


Endeavor

by mawr_blaidd_drwg



Series: Closer [2]
Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Angst, Cell Games Saga, Developing Relationship, Drama & Romance, F/M, Humor, Lemon, Post-Cell Games Saga, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:28:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 50,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25670590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mawr_blaidd_drwg/pseuds/mawr_blaidd_drwg
Summary: “Yeah, you’re right. His work ethic and discipline are admirable. I can understand what you see in him now, his honor. That’s what my mom saw in him all those years ago and why she fell in love with him,” Trunks said thoughtfully.Bulma clenched the scissors in her hand, almost dropping them. Hearing the word actually spoken out loud was like hearing about a death. She had not dared herself to even allow her thoughts to go there before. To that word. She couldn’t go there. Not now. Her heart hammered in her chest so loudly that she was sure Trunks would be able to hear it from where he sat in front of her. Her gut clenched and her whole body rushed with heat. It’s not as though her feelings mattered anyhow. She didn’t have the slightest idea what the future held. What was the point in trying to figure out how she felt? It’s not like Vegeta was capable of reciprocating any sort of feelings. He didn’t even attempt to save her and baby Trunks when Dr. Gero blasted the ship. It was easy for the future version of herself to throw around words like that because the Vegeta that she knew had died. In this timeline, it was what was between them that had died.
Relationships: Bulma Briefs/Vegeta
Series: Closer [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1758337
Comments: 97
Kudos: 158





	1. Walking a Tightrope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back and so excited to bring the next part of my series! This part will follow the events of the Android/Cell Saga through to the Buu Saga where we will see how Bulma and Vegeta finally officially entered a committed relationship, raised Trunks and even got married! The three year gap is often written about but I think this time period is very underrated and fun to imagine so I'm happy to take it on! Please be sure to check out the first part of the series "Notice" to have a better understanding of where we are at and the events leading up to this point. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy the first chapter and if you do, please be so kind as to leave a kudos or a comment so I know whether to continue. Your wonderful words of encouragement and feedback meant so much to me for the first part of the series! <3
> 
> xx  
> Mawr Blaidd Drwg

“Trunks… just try not to get your hopes up,” Bulma said carefully as she gripped her thermos of tea. She would give anything for some coffee, but they hadn’t been able to find any the last couple of weeks during their supply runs.

Trunks slid his newly sharpened sword into the scabbard slung over his shoulder. The small smile on his face faded at his mother’s words.

“I’m not,” Trunks said defensively. “I remember what he was like when I met him before. He was… tough. But he also didn’t know that I was his son then.”

“I’m not so sure that him knowing you are his son will make a difference. If anything he might be even tougher on you,” she responded wearily before swallowing the bitter hot water. “’ _That is the Saiyan way_.’”

Trunks remained silent knowing there was no point in arguing with his mom. He didn’t care what she said; he was excited to get to talk to his father now that he would know the truth about who he was. He had spent his life only hearing stories about him from his mom and Gohan. Then he got to actually see him when he went back in time. It had been rough, but he also had to be so secretive of who he was and his father had been suspicious of him. Gohan had explained to him how prideful he was too, especially about his strength as a warrior so he knew that Vegeta was also bitter about seeing him turn into a Super Saiyan before he had the opportunity to do so.

“In our timeline Goku was the one who killed Frieza and his father so there might be some other changes too, especially since you gave him the antidote, so you need to be prepared for that,” Bulma added as she watched her son rummage through his jacket to check that he had everything he needed.

“I know, I know. I should have just waited for Goku to arrive…”

“No. I’m glad it was you who did it,” Bulma said tensely, turning away from Trunks. “That bastard ruined your father’s life. It is justice served that his son would be the one to destroy him. Vegeta would have been proud of you.”

Trunks became quiet. His mom only talked about his father’s past a few times, specifically about Frieza, but he remembered every word as though it were a ghost story that haunted him when he tried to sleep at night. It was one of the reasons when given the opportunity that he showed Frieza no mercy and tore him to shreds with his sword. To honor his father and his Saiyan ancestry. She didn’t like to talk about his father’s past and he knew better than to ask too many questions, he used to ask Gohan questions about him to avoid these sort of conversations with his mom. He could tell it was difficult for her to talk about him sometimes, though she would never admit it.

“I just don’t want you to be disappointed, Trunks. Your father was a difficult man. He was just barely _starting_ to learn how to care about others before he was killed in this timeline,” Bulma said firmly. “With Goku hopefully still alive in their timeline… I’m certain he is angrier, more competitive and also more determined than ever to prove himself. Just be mindful of his pride and honor. It means more to him than anything, for most of his life it was all he had.”

“Okay. I understand, mom,” Trunks replied and he made eye contact with her but he could tell by the far off look in her eyes that she was back in the past again with all of this talk of his father.

“Be safe. Tell ‘me’ that I said hello. Also if you can try to snag some coffee I will be forever grateful,” Bulma said with a soft smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“I will,” Trunks replied as he got himself into the time machine.

Bulma traced the words ‘hope’ that he had painted on the outside with her finger. She wished she could go back too, but knew that wasn’t possible and that it would make things more difficult. She didn’t think she could bear to see Vegeta after all of this time.

“I love you and I’m so proud of you,” she said her voice slightly cracking on the end of her words. If she still cried, she probably would have in that moment, but she had stopped crying a long time ago. There was no point to it anymore.

“I love you too, mom. I’ll see you soon,” Trunks waved at her before starting up the time machine. It growled to life and he stared at his mom through the glass. He knew she was smart and could take care of herself while he was gone, but he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt and fear leaving her alone with the Androids. He lifted the vehicle in the air before setting the console to May 12th.

“Please let the past be better than this hell we are in,” she whispered aloud to no one in particular as she watched the time machine fade away into the past.

~*~

He couldn’t do it anymore. It felt like he was suffocating. Every time he looked out and saw complete nothingness surrounding him, it felt as though walls were caving in around him and crushing his spirit. The physical elements of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber were nothing in comparison to what it was doing to his mental health. He could handle the extreme heat and cold, that didn’t bother him as much as realizing the complete void that he was living in. What was worse was how completely unaffected his father was by all of it, when he felt himself suffering so tremendously.

He could not appear weak in front of him. That was the last thing he needed, for his father to think he was a weakling. He already felt as though Vegeta despised him, he didn’t need to add any more fuel to that fire. He focused on his anger instead, something that he realized they did have in common. Fury and resentment was a powerful tool in training. Couple that with years of childhood trauma and you have a lifetime worth of material to ignite and tweak your abilities. Usually Trunks used vivid traumatic memories from his past such as watching Gohan die to help trigger his spiral. But this time, ironically enough, the fury that was bubbling inside of him related directly to his father.

Scenes flashed through his eyes like slides on a projector clicking. Vegeta not taking him seriously about the androids. Click. Vegeta actively allowing Dr. Gero to activate android 17 & 18 even when he pleaded with him not to. Click.

_“Hey! Why didn’t you try to save them, Vegeta?” Trunks shouted at his father._

_“Who?” Vegeta replied with genuine confusion as though he had no idea what he was even talking about._

_“Bulma and your son!” Trunks yelled incredulously._

_“Oh… them…” Vegeta paused. “I have more important things to worry about than that foolish woman and her blasted child!”_

_Trunks gaped in shock at his father, unable to understand how he could care so little to not even attempt to help his mother and the baby version of himself when their ship was blown to the ground from the android._

_“Now out of my way!”_

Click.

It wasn’t as though Gohan and his mother glamorized Vegeta or tried to make him sound like this wonderful person. He wasn’t delusional about who his father really was. But to see him actively be unapologetically terrible was painful to watch. So much pain and destruction could have been avoided if his father wasn’t so self absorbed and power hungry. He felt his hands trembling as the anger simmered in his gut. What had his mother even seen in him? He thought that _maybe_ Vegeta held some sort of soft spot for her in comparison to everyone else, but it certainly didn’t appear that way. It seemed as though he didn’t have any sort of soft spot at all. Why did she still hold a torch for him? He didn’t understand it.

Even in his disappointment and anger all he wanted more than anything was his approval, and that made him feel even angrier. Trunks felt the power surge through him. A power he had never felt before. He focused in on it and tried to suppress it. He couldn’t surpass his father right now. It would ruin everything beyond repair. And everything was already fucked as it was.

///

Vegeta floated in the vastness of the time chamber, welcoming the void. The temperature of the chamber was the coldest it had been yet. His bones shivered underneath of his muscles, as the cold seemed to reach deep into his very soul. If only he had trained in this chamber sooner he would have reached Super Saiyan so much quicker and would have already defeated the androids and Kakarot by now. He welcomed the turmoil the chamber brought, its shifting temperatures and unrelenting environment suited his ever-changing mood. He closed his eyes as his teeth shivered against one another trying to fall back into his meditative state.

He sensed the boy’s ki spiraling out of control. He opened one eye and spotted him a far distance away. He was smart enough to give him his space, he’d give him that at least, but his annoying persistence to try to get closer to him reminded him of Bulma. Thankfully he wasn’t as irritating and pushy as his mother. She delighted in pissing him off and making him uncomfortable whereas his son wanted the opposite. He sighed, irritated with how he was getting distracted by him being here, once again. This was exactly why he trained alone, no distractions. The boy was always on the edge of wanting to speak to him, but they were not here to talk. He had nothing to say. He didn’t want to be chastised by a kid about his actions. His business was his own.

He didn’t know how to act around the kid. It was difficult and strange enough to stare at an infant and try to understand how it was a part of him somehow. How he could be a part in creating something so small and innocent when he had spent his entire life hell bent on destruction. The infant was easy enough to avoid, but now he had the grown up version of him following him around and staring at him with all of these high hopes that Vegeta managed to crush and disappoint at every turn without even trying. His son had far too much humanity in him; he was obviously raised by Bulma and not by Saiyans. His humanity crippled him because he had too many weaknesses. He was constantly worried about the past becoming the future and helping others. He concerned too much of his time regarding the safety of everyone instead of defeating his actual opponent. Dr. Gero had gotten away in the first place because the kid had been so caught up in why Vegeta hadn’t concerned himself with Bulma and the child when he had already told her not to go anywhere near the battlefield because it was dangerous and she would get in the way. She wasn’t his responsibility, if she wanted to be a reckless fool that was her decision.

It was no wonder the kid hadn’t been able to defeat the androids in his own timeline. His mind was constantly preoccupied. This was exactly why his father had been right. True warriors do not concern themselves with anything other than their opponent. Attachments are weaknesses, and weaknesses could be exploited in battle.

_You didn’t defeat them either_. That nagging voice in his mind taunted him. It almost sounded like Bulma. He growled to himself. Even when she wasn’t here, she was irritating him. His pride had been wounded drastically after his defeat from the blonde android and he didn’t want to hear an, ‘I told you so’ from the kid. Another reason they were in this infernal room.

He also didn’t want to hear another word about how they _needed_ Kakarot or how Kakarot would know what to do against Cell and the Androids. Kakarot would save the day. It made him sick. His own son didn’t even believe he was stronger than Kakarot. His fury was jagged and cut him apart as it expanded.

The days blended into weeks and months. Trunks couldn’t remember the last time he spoke out loud, or held a conversation. Training with Gohan when he was a child had been tough, but this was basically torture. Gohan had warmth and patience even if he was hard on him. But training with his father felt like a battle with no hope of victory.

_“I’m not so sure that him knowing you are his son will make a difference. If anything he might be even tougher on you… ‘That is the Saiyan way.’”_

His mother’s words a hollow echo rattling around the void. She had been right, as she usually was. He hated to admit it, but he had gotten his hopes up that things would be different with Vegeta, clearly he had been very wrong. From what Gohan had told him about Goku from his timeline he was incredibly strong and the greatest fighter the Earth had ever seen. But he was also patient and kind. Then again, he had no memory of his Saiyan blood and was raised by humans. Vegeta had no home and was raised with brutality and abuse. So it made sense that he wasn’t exactly a warm and fuzzy mentor and teacher.

Trunks ate his meal quickly before leaving the resting rooms of the chamber. When he stepped outside he was hit with a steel wall of unspeakable heat. He cursed himself for wishing for the warmth when it had been so cold. The cold was unyielding, but the heat was unforgivable.

His father stood in the middle of the void, his skin engulfed in flames and steam. Trunks came to the startling realization that Vegeta had not rested in several days, it might have even been a week. The days got lost in this chamber. His determination was completely insane, but also admirable. He thought of his mother working tirelessly for years trying to complete the time machine almost dying countless times and putting herself at risk to get the materials and supplies she needed. They were two sides of the same coin, he realized. It suddenly made sense to him why his mother had admired his father in the first place.

A piercing white light engulfed Vegeta and the flames erupted off of his body and disintegrated into the void. Trunks watched in awe as his father battled the chamber, his own personal demons, his own limitations and once again ascended beyond Super Saiyan.

~*~

Bulma twirled the scissor handle around her finger as she waited for Trunks to finish wetting his hair. Trunks. Her son. But _not quite_ , at the same time. _Her_ Trunks was sitting in his play center squeezing a small dinosaur plush toy that squeaked and its eyes bulged out every time he squeezed. Each time this happened, he smirked triumphantly and clapped his chubby hands together. She couldn’t help but think of how Vegeta smirked when he had an opponent cornered. She then stared at the older Future Trunks who was now walking over to her as a grown young man, his purple hair long and the wet ends dripping onto his black shirt.

She had to admit that this was pretty bizarre even in comparison to everything she had witnessed and gone through in her life thus far. She had met her son 2 years before he was even born without even knowing it. And now here she was about to cut the long hair of the future version of her son, because he had gone into a chamber that passed a year’s worth of time even though only a day had passed outside of the chamber. It was enough to make her head hurt.

It was strange to meet her baby as a young man without witnessing his growing up first hand. She had to admit it was also pretty cool to see what he would look like when he would get older. Her future self had done a great job raising him, he was a polite, thoughtful and courageous young man and she couldn’t help but swell with pride just looking at him even though she technically didn’t do any of the work. Growing up in the environment that he did also aged him so quickly and it hurt her heart to think of all that he had already been through at this age.

“Your hair grows like mine does,” Bulma mused as she combed his wet purple hair.

“It’s even longer than yours is now,” Trunks replied.

It was weird meeting the younger version of his mother. This version was so like his mother, but also so different all at once. She had the same strength and willful, albeit terrifying, attitude that his mother had, but also she had not been through the same things that his version of her had, so there was still so much joy and optimism in her. Her immediate openness and warmth was such a stark contrast to that of his father, who barely said more than a few words to him in the entire year they trained together in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

“So, how did your training with Vegeta go?”Bulma asked as she carefully started to trim the ends of his hair. She desperately wished she could have been a fly on the wall during the year that he and Vegeta trained together and watched them interact with one another.

She could feel Trunks immediately tense his body underneath her.

“Uh, it was fine,” he replied quietly.

“That bad, huh?” Bulma said in amusement. She remembered when Vegeta had injured himself from the gravity chamber and they spent several days together because he was immobile and she had to babysit him. She was about ready to start taking his painkillers or go Super Saiyan herself to deal with his attitude and that was only a few days, she could only imagine how hard a full year completely alone with him was.

“No-No, I didn’t mean that! I just…” Trunks replied quickly. He didn’t want to sound ungrateful for the time he got with his father. He had spent his whole life wanting to meet him and spend time with him. He just didn’t imagine it would be as tough as it was.

“Relax! If there’s anybody who gets it, it’s me. I know better than anyone how difficult your father can be,” Bulma said with a laugh. “He’s very skilled at figuring out what buttons to push to drive you insane.”

“My mom, well from the future, she tried to warn me but…” Trunks replied.

“Nothing can really prepare you for that.”

“I just wish he liked me,” Trunks mumbled feeling childish as the words left his mouth.

“Oh, Trunks,” Bulma said her heart deflating at his words. “Your father…has been through a lot. He’s got some serious walls and guards up that I don’t think he’s ever going to let down. I don’t think he really knows how to even let them down to be honest. He doesn’t know how to care for others, he never really learned. I know it’s hard not to take it personally, but try not to. That’s just how he is.”

“Yeah, you’re right. His work ethic and discipline are admirable. I can understand what you see in him now, his honor. That’s what my mom saw in him all those years ago and why she fell in love with him,” Trunks said thoughtfully.

Bulma clenched the scissors in her hand, almost dropping them. Hearing the word actually spoken out loud was like hearing about a death. She had not dared herself to even allow her thoughts to go there before. To _that_ word. She couldn’t go there. Not now. Her heart hammered in her chest so loudly that she was sure Trunks would be able to hear it from where he sat in front of her. Her gut clenched and her whole body rushed with heat. It’s not as though her feelings mattered anyhow. She didn’t have the slightest idea what the future held. What was the point in trying to figure out how she felt? It’s not like Vegeta was capable of reciprocating any sort of feelings. He didn’t even attempt to save her and baby Trunks when Dr. Gero blasted the ship. It was easy for the future version of herself to throw around words like that because the Vegeta that she knew had died. In this timeline, it was what was between them that had died. She swallowed hard and continued to cut Trunks’ hair.

“He’s one of a kind, that’s for sure,” Bulma finally said gently.

She finished trimming his hair trying to push all of these intrusive and unwelcome thoughts away. “There! Much better,” she proclaimed happily as she brushed loose hairs off of his shoulders and placed the scissors down.

“Thank you,” Trunks said with a smile as he stood up and ran his fingers through his hair. Baby Trunks began to cry from his play center so she walked over and scooped him up into her arms. His tears began to stop but his lip still quivered.

“If you’re done getting pampered, we have more important things to do now,” Vegeta’s voice growled as he stormed into the room.

“Can you chill? Not everybody is a weirdo like you are. It’s not Trunks’ fault that his hair grows,” Bulma snapped at him as she rocked baby Trunks back and forth in her arms. Baby Trunks stopped his lip quivering the moment Vegeta entered the room. He reached his small fists towards him and smiled.

“You’re right, it’s not his fault. It’s the pitiful, weak human genes that he inherited from you,” Vegeta replied in irritation.

“Thank Kami he inherited my genes, otherwise he’d look exactly like you!” Bulma said crinkling her nose.

Vegeta narrowed his eyes at Bulma and clenched his fists at his side. Future Trunks and baby Trunks stared back and forth between the two following them like a ping pong ball bouncing back and forth. Trunks was in complete awe of how his mother was not even slightly intimidated by his father. She didn’t hold back and didn’t seem to care what his reaction would be. The strangest part was that most of the time his father acquiesced. It was hard to understand his father in any sort of a relationship with someone seeing how standoffish and selfish he was, but if there had to be anyone, his mother really was the perfect candidate.

“Oh! Before I forget, here are some more armor sets for your training for the Cell Games,” Bulma said as she dug into her pocket for a capsule and handed it to Trunks. “I’m glad I made so many of them, you guys are running through these like socks.”

“Thanks!” Trunks said as he grabbed the capsule.

“Maybe you can have an armor set too, Vegeta if you stop being so rude to our son,” Bulma said as she winked at Trunks before leaving the room.

Trunks stifled a smile as soon as he saw the murderous look on his father’s face.

~*~

Bulma rubbed her eyes, trying to wipe away the sleepiness that overwhelmed her. She needed to get some more coffee. Her and her father were close to finished with Android 16, but if she didn’t pump her body up with false energy, then she would never make it. They only had a few more days until the Cell Games started. Her dad had gone to take a power nap, and her mom had been put in charge of Trunks while they tried to get the last bit of work done.

As she walked out of the lab and into the hallway, she nearly collided with Vegeta, who appeared to have just showered and cleaned himself up.

“Oh. I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” Bulma said as she closed the lab door quickly behind her. Vegeta would be pissed if he knew she had been working on Android 16 to help in the Cell Games, and she was too exhausted to go to verbal war with him.

Vegeta regarded her briefly for a moment, noticing how tired she looked, though her ki flickered when she realized he was there. It had been a long time since he had last seen her. He hated how even after all of this time how easily she grabbed his attention. He had hoped to avoid her after coming back to Capsule Corp to shower and get a decent meal before returning to Kami’s lookout. But he should have known better, any hope of avoiding her was futile. She had a sixth sense for finding him when he wanted to be left alone.

Vegeta had a sour expression on his face as though she were the last person he wanted to see right now. She figured that his training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber would have put him in a better mood. Apparently it did **not**. He remained silent and stared at her.

“Did Trunks come back with you?” she finally asked.

“No. He’s in the Time Chamber now,” Vegeta answered as he folded his arms neatly over his chest.

“Why didn’t he train with you? Didn’t you train together last time?” Bulma asked in confusion.

Vegeta felt his irritation grow. Why did she have to ask him so many questions that he didn’t feel like answering? This was exactly why he didn’t want to run into her.

“I prefer to train alone. I didn’t need the boy distracting me like he did last time.”

“Vegeta, he didn’t get to know you at all in his timeline because you died! The least you could do is spend some time with him,” Bulma sighed in disappointment. All she could think of was how Trunks quietly said that he wished Vegeta liked him and how it broke her heart. “He just wants to get to know you. He’s your son! He thinks you don’t even like him.”

Vegeta clenched his jaw tightly. “I have more important things to worry about right now than ridiculous family bonding time,” Vegeta growled narrowing his eyes at her.

Bulma rubbed her temples trying to will away the headache that was overwhelming her right now. She was trying to be patient, knowing full well that the Saiyan way of parenting was obviously very different than the human way, but what was wrong with him! He couldn’t be bothered to spend extra time with the future version of their son. She and Vegeta had still not spoken about what would be happening, whether he would stay or leave now that there was Trunks. Baby Trunks at least. In fact this was the first that they had spoken alone since everything with the Androids and Cell started. But this was not the time for them to debate the future and differing parenting methods. But the uncertainty twisted in her gut nonetheless.

“So how many years have passed since you first went into the Time Chamber with Trunks?” Bulma asked, deciding to change the subject.

“3,” Vegeta answered his annoyance growing each passing second.

Bulma blinked processing that information. 3 years was a long time. Especially to be training, most of which was done alone in his case. No wonder he was so rough around the edges right now. She could practically feel his anger vibrating in the air around them. Vegeta left alone to his devices and thoughts for too long was never a good thing. Maybe he actually regretted allowing Cell to become perfect. Though she doubted his pride would allow any space for regret for his actions. In a strange sort of way she understood why he wanted to fight him in his perfect form. Not that she agreed with his actions, but she could see how his honor and thirst for a true challenge would inevitably create this result. It was best probably not to bring Cell up either. It was a delicate tightrope that she had to walk, figuring out how to talk to him without sending him spiraling away.

“Well, while you’re here, I made more armor for everybody if you want to bring it with you to Kami’s lookout for when Trunks is ready,” Bulma dug into her lab coat pocket and pulled out a box of capsules, she walked closer to him and handed him the small white box.

Bulma stared into his endless black eyes that appeared to have even more turmoil in them since the last time she saw him. She thought of the time she hugged him in the Gravity Room when a similar look had crossed his face and almost smiled. Her fingers twitched as she fought off the urge to wrap her arms around him again.

Vegeta hmphed before taking the box from her and began to walk away. If the circumstances had been different and they weren’t potentially looking at the end of the Earth, she would have annoyed him about not saying thank you. But she just didn’t have it in her at the moment. He looked like he had been through hell as it was. She would rip him a new one about everything once this was over. If they survived, at least. Well if Goku was fighting, they had to survive, right? The thought of Vegeta not surviving hit her brain like shrapnel. No, she couldn’t think that way. She immediately pushed that idea out of the way. He had just trained for an extra 2 years, he would be okay. He had to be.

“Vegeta?”

“What now?” he snapped, his back turned to her, not bothering to turn around.

Her hand touched his arm and he flinched underneath her touch.

“Keep Trunks safe, okay?”

She had about a thousand things she wanted to say to him, but that was the only reasonable thing that she could manage.

He turned around to meet her eyes and wished he hadn’t. It had been years for him since he’d seen her and he preferred it that way. She was nothing but a distraction for him. Her hand still rested on his arm and for reasons he didn’t know, he didn’t pull away from her. If it had been a few years ago before the Androids and Trunks he would have shoved her against the wall of the hallway and crushed his lips against hers. But he didn’t. He stared at her hand and then back up at her eyes. He hated the worry overwhelming her large blue eyes. It was as though she didn’t believe he was strong enough to defeat Cell on his own. Her lack of faith in him soured his mood even further.

“He’s perfectly capable of taking care of himself,” Vegeta replied gruffly, pulling away from her before storming away.

“Keep yourself safe too,” Bulma whispered to his retreating form, not realizing he could hear her before he left.

Vegeta clenched his trembling fist trying to shake off where she had just touched his arm, feeling the warmth sinking into his veins. It had been so long since she touched him. Even just a simple touch on his arm was enough to ignite vivid memories of her. His entire body rushed with heat. He shook off the feeling bringing his focus back on to the only thing that should matter right now. Destroying Cell. But as he took to the sky towards Kami’s lookout his arm still ached from where her fingers had been.

~*~

Master Roshi’s frown deepened. She would have to learn how to sense ki and read power levels at some point because this was driving her insane. Why did the stupid television broadcast have to go out! She wanted to know what was going on and Master Roshi wasn’t exactly giving her the play-by-play.

“What is happening? I thought you felt Cell’s power level disappear with Goku’s?” Bulma asked anxiously.

“It did… but it came back. Only Cell’s. Goku is surely dead. And now… I don’t know how to tell you this Bulma, but…” the reflective light in Master Roshi’s sunglasses faded as he turned directly towards her.

Bulma felt her pulse stuttering like a dying engine. Was it Vegeta? Was it Trunks? She couldn’t bear this.

“Trunks’ ki has faded out too, I’m afraid Trunks is dead.”

Bulma didn’t process what he said. She heard the words very clearly, but they had no meaning to her. That couldn’t be true. _Trunks is dead_. It was, as though she had said the words over and over again so many times that she didn’t even know what they meant. _Trunks is dead_.

She wasn’t sure how much time had passed. She watched Master Roshi’s face trying to read his expression for more answers.

“What’s happening now?” she whispered like a child asking a question they didn’t actually want the answer to.

“It’s Vegeta… his ki is out of control. His power is unbelievable, like nothing I’ve ever felt before… I think he might even be stronger than Goku was. He’s giving Cell everything he’s got.”

Bulma felt her heart swell. She knew it was because of Trunks. Vegeta was finally realizing what it was to care for someone and also what it was like to lose them all in one breath.

“But I’m afraid it’s not enough. He’s not thinking clearly. His anger and grief are getting the better of him, it’s blinding him,” Master Roshi said sadly.

“No,” Bulma’s voice broke in two.

She wished more than anything that she was there on the battlefield to try to stop him, though she knew she couldn’t even if she tried. She knew because if she had his power she would be doing the same thing to Cell for Trunks. Vegeta who was so cold and calculated in his actions, flying off the handle and allowing his emotions to get the best of him. _Trunks is dead_. She still couldn’t process it. It was too much to carry right now. But then, the unthinkable thought crept up to her brain like a chill rushing across skin. _What if Vegeta dies too._ He can’t die. He can’t die because…

She thought of the look in his black eyes that was only for her. She heard his laughter as he walked away from the pool, as he grabbed her ramen cup and left the kitchen. She heard him saying her name the day he left to train in space. She saw the look on his face as he held Trunks. The softness of his lips crashing against hers in the gravity room that first time. She saw him day in and day out breaking himself into pieces and picking himself back up and doing it all over again. She saw the good, the bad, the worst and the best of him all at once.

“ _I’m not one of your projects, woman. You can’t pull me apart and figure me out and try to reassemble me so that I can work properly.”_

And in that moment she realized without a doubt in her mind that she completely understood herself from the future and her feelings. It all came tumbling together like a deck of cards being cut in two and shuffled back together in a neat manageable stack. She didn’t want him to leave if they survived this. He can’t die. He can’t die because…

_Because I love him._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the chapter! For the second chapter we will get Vegeta's perspective for Trunks' death as well.
> 
> xx  
> Mawr Blaidd Drwg


	2. Bend and Not Break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note the rating of the story towards the end of the chapter, enjoy!
> 
> xx  
> Mawr Blaidd Drwg

Trunks landed in front of Capsule Corp and was immediately greeted by his mom who was just getting out of her aircraft. Bulma saw the grown version of her son and her heart skipped a beat. They must have used the Dragon Balls already to wish him back. But to know what he had gone through weighed heavily on her. She stared at the gaping hole that was cracked through his armor where he had been hit with the blast that killed him. Bulma threw her arms around her son and gripped his shoulders tightly. She considered never letting him go as a possible option as he hugged her back.

“Thank Kami you’re okay,” Bulma mumbled into his chest through tears. “Me from the future is going to be so pissed off at _me_ for letting you get killed. I know I would be!”

Trunks couldn’t help but laugh, realizing this version of his mom was right, _his_ version of her probably would be mad.

Eventually she pulled away from him and wiped the tears away from her eyes. It was so strange how attached she was to this young man who was somehow her son, even though _her_ son was sitting in his car seat at this exact moment. Maybe it was an instinctual motherly thing, but she couldn’t explain the connection and bond that she had to him.

“I’m okay, better than okay,” Trunks replied. “You’re not going to believe what happened!”

“Master Roshi gave me the abridged version after the broadcast cut out, but I want to hear everything! Let’s go up and get something to eat, you must be starving, then you can tell me all about it,” Bulma said as she grabbed baby Trunks from his car seat and pulled him up into her arms. Baby Trunks waved at the older future version of himself. Older Trunks waved back still not over how strange it was to see himself as a baby in person and not just in photographs.

Bulma put the aircraft back into its capsule before they headed towards the entrance of Capsule Corp. She turned around on their way in, searching the area with false hope of seeing Vegeta but he wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

“Yamcha told me that dad went completely berserk after I was killed and did everything in his power to avenge me against Cell! He said that they had never seen him exhibit so much power and emotion before!” Trunks stated with excitement coating every single word. He hadn’t even touched his plate of food because he had been so focused on giving his mom all of the details of the fight.

Bulma smiled widely, she _knew_ that he had it in him all along to care, but to hear it actually happened was something different entirely. Also hearing the play-by-play from her son sitting across from her at the kitchen table was far better than from Master Roshi in the heat of the moment and the uncertainty of what was to come next.

“Yamcha said it wasn’t enough though and Cell almost killed him, but Gohan stepped in the way and saved him, though both of them were terribly injured. But Gohan wouldn’t give up and was determined to fight Cell. Yamcha, Tien, Piccolo and Krillin were trying to fight Cell off of Gohan but it didn’t work and all seemed hopeless,” he paused almost as if for dramatic effect. “But then out of nowhere, dad used all of his energy that he could muster and sent a blast at Cell’s back that distracted him, and Gohan was able to get the final blast through to defeat him!”

Bulma’s jaw dropped. She did not know that Vegeta had worked together to help Gohan. Vegeta was most certainly **_not_** a team player, in fact being a team player went against his own code, but to hear that he swallowed his pride to help save the world that he claimed to despise was unfathomable. Vegeta did the right thing without prompting from anyone. Trunks had been killed at that point and she was nowhere near the battlefield to try to convince him or guilt him into doing the right thing. It had been his own free will. Her heart jumped at hearing this.

“I just can’t believe it,” Trunks said in amazement as he finally ate a few mouthfuls of food. “I really wish I had been alive to see all of this… my mom is never going to believe me.”

“I can’t either,” Bulma responded, the smile warming her face once again hearing about these positive changes that Vegeta had made on his own. “But I also can at the same time, you know? I knew he had it in him all along. It was just a matter of him actually making the right decision on his own.”

Trunks nodded, understanding what his mom meant. If there was anyone who could relate in trying to understand the complexities of the enigma that was Vegeta, it was definitely him. He knew what it was to try to look past the rough exterior and find the good in him that he was capable of. It had been a long road filled with a great deal of disappointment but the end, somehow felt worth it.

“You’ve had a profound impact on him, Trunks,” Bulma said proudly as she reached over and grabbed his hand. “He’ll never tell you that of course, but it’s definitely true.”

Trunks felt his heart fill with warmth hearing her words. It was almost as comforting as hearing his dad saying it to him. He knew that would never happen, but his mom seemed to know him better than anyone so if she said it, it must be true.

Trunks remembered that in his haste to talk about what happened during the battle, that he forgot about the bad news that he still had to tell his mom.

“After I was wished back, everyone was trying to come up with a plan to travel to New Namek and use their Dragon Balls to see if they could somehow wish Goku back, since he already died before. But he chose to stay in the afterlife and I guess it’s his decision to make but it’s still sad,” Trunks said solemnly, bringing his eyes downcast. “I’m sorry, I know how much he meant to you and to everyone. He really was an incredible person. What a terrible loss for the world.”

Bulma hadn’t even had the opportunity to process the death of her friend given everything that had happened and losing Trunks had come to the forefront of her mind. She felt guilty that she had been so focused on hearing about Vegeta and what happened during the fight instead. She felt tears sting her eyes but she swallowed them down. That’s not what Goku would want besides this had been his decision and it seemed as though it was what he wanted.

“Poor Gohan and Chi-Chi,” Bulma replied sadly. “I’m sure we’ll see Goku again somehow. I wouldn’t be surprised if Chi-Chi figured out how to drag him back to Earth from the afterlife.”

Trunks laughed, remembering how scary Chi-Chi was, especially in this timeline. To think she hadn’t wanted young Gohan to fight at all, where would they be right now if Goku had listened to her? Gohan had saved everyone, and Trunks wasn’t the least bit surprised after having been so close with the future version of him. He knew better than anybody how powerful and amazing Gohan was. If only his version of Gohan had used the Hyperbolic Time Chamber in his time, perhaps things would be different. Although, maybe he really needed Goku’s confidence all along to push him to his limits. Time was a peculiar thing, and he couldn’t let his mind think of the ‘what ifs’ or he would drive himself mad. All he could focus on right now was the victory that this timeline had worked for and how his time would soon know the same sense of peace.

“Everyone is going to come by tomorrow to see me off too,” Trunks added.

“Great! I’ll make sure we have plenty of food and everything. We need to celebrate the world being saved and honor Goku,” Bulma said already thinking about what food she should order to be catered for tomorrow and to get some black memorial armbands for everyone.

“That sounds good to me,” Trunks smiled, still trying to get used to how different life was in this timeline. Celebrations were rare and very quiet in his timeline. There was never much of anything to celebrate. But that was going to change soon.

“Any chance you know where your father is? Is he alright?” Bulma asked trying to sound nonchalant but failing miserably.

“I’m not sure. He wasn’t at the Lookout when I was wished back from the Dragon Balls. I think Piccolo tried to stay behind to talk to him but he said that he left the battlefield shortly after and went his own way after Cell was defeated.”

Bulma swallowed hard and nodded. She desperately wanted to see him. She could only imagine the sort of state he was in right now. For starters, he no longer had the opportunity to actually prove himself against Goku and he never would now that he was dead and not coming back. Even when all was lost for Vegeta, he always had his pride. It was his constant companion his whole life. But in this moment she knew it was likely torn to shreds given the result of the battle and she worried how he was handling it. She just wanted to know that he was okay, but she didn’t know when he would return… or if he would return. The thought sent a cold jolt to her chest. Surely he wanted to see Trunks before he left though, didn’t he? Then again, maybe he didn’t.

“I hope I get to see him before I go back to my time tomorrow,” Trunks said, his excitement tumbling quietly into worry, seemingly reading her mind. He just wanted to see him again before he left. He knew better than to try to thank him for what happened today. But he also knew he wouldn’t see him again in his time and wanted the closure of being able to say good-bye in his own way.

“I’m sure he’ll be back,” Bulma lied, pushing the horrible feeling in her gut away. But Trunks stared into her matching blue eyes and saw right through her.

They both became silent and Trunks pushed the food around on his plate, suddenly not feeling hungry at all anymore. He stared at the baby version of himself who had fallen asleep in his high chair while clutching his bottle and wished that he could be so young again and not have a care in the world.

~*~

_“Keep Trunks safe, okay?”_

Her words faded in and out of focus. He had failed. In _so_ many ways, ways he didn’t even think were possible. But this, this was his greatest failure. He couldn’t even protect his own son. Sure, they would go use the Dragon Balls and bring him back so he wasn’t permanently lost. But he allowed him to be lost in the first place. What sort of father was he? He knew he wasn’t cut out to be a good father but this was beyond even his own expected limitations. He had been terrible to Trunks from the moment that he saw him and did nothing to change it. He didn’t know how to act around him, though that was a poor excuse. All Trunks wanted was his acceptance and approval; but he was so filled with humanity that treating him as a Saiyan would just seemed to make matters worse.

It didn’t help that Vegeta still didn’t fully accept that he was a father in the first place and then he was thrown into this bizarre situation. It was a peculiar thing to meet your son as a young man without having been there his entire life. And then they spent the year in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber together. He didn’t know what to say to him, or how to talk to him. Trunks even tried to talk to him one time, and it hadn’t gone well.

_“Why won’t you say anything or even talk to me?” Trunks finally said breaking the silence that had suffocated the Time Chamber for so long now. He couldn’t take it any more, he felt he would lose his mind if he didn’t say something._

_“I have nothing to say,” Vegeta replied nonchalantly. “I have more important things to concern my time and energy with.”_

_Trunks felt his anger and disappointment simmer inside of him. Why did his own father dislike him so much? What had he done wrong? Why didn’t he think that talking to his son was important? He knew that he should keep his mouth shut. He knew that would be the smart and reasonable thing to do. Trunks was pretty patient, but he was also the child of Bulma and Vegeta so remaining silent and controlling his temper wasn’t exactly in his DNA._

_“I don’t understand what my mom ever saw in you or why she’s never moved on. You are so selfish and cold,” Trunks said through gritted teeth, clenching his fist under the table._

_Vegeta placed his fork down onto the table, swallowed his mouthful of food and glared at his son. A part of him was impressed that the kid seemed to finally grow a backbone and speak up, and the other part of him couldn’t believe he had the audacity to speak to his father in such a way. Vegeta would have never spoken to his own father like that out of respect._

_“It is of no concern to me what you think or what your mother does with her time,” Vegeta snapped coldly._

_Trunks stood up from the table, knocking the chair over in the process before silently storming out of the room and out into the void. The boiling heat a welcome change from being anywhere near the man who was his father by blood but not nearly at all by action._

They hadn’t spoken at all after that. Of course being a father seemed to come so easily to Kakarot but they had been raised in completely different ways. In a way, maybe he had kept his distance from Trunks because he didn’t want to mess up his son beyond repair the way that he had been. He didn’t wish that for anyone. The whole situation frustrated him to no end; he was at a loss no matter what he did.

_“He just wants to get to know you. He’s your son! He thinks you don’t even like him.”_

He didn’t _want_ Trunks to get to know him. That was the problem. He didn’t want _anyone_ to get to know him! Bulma had already gotten closer than he ever wanted anyone to, and he honestly still didn’t know how that happened. He had become very comfortable with being alone, training alone, and fighting alone. He didn’t need anyone. If he didn’t need anyone then it wouldn’t become bothersome if they were lost to him. No attachments, no distractions as his father would say. But then he came to this stupid planet and it threw his whole existence upside down. He had a son that he didn’t even know how to talk to who was constantly looking up to him only to be disappointed anytime Vegeta spoke or made a decision that felt natural to him.

And then he was slaughtered right before his eyes. To add insult to injury he failed in even trying to avenge him. He had to be saved by an _actual child_. And of course it just _had_ to be Kakarot’s son. He had never seen such power before. At his age it was truly remarkable, even he had to admit it. His son’s strength had already been impressive at so young an age as well. He had been eating his words realizing that being half-human apparently didn’t make them weaker. It appeared as though their humanity made them somehow stronger than he or even Kakarot. It baffled him to no end. Nothing made sense to him anymore. Everything he firmly believed in felt hazy and uncertain now. There was nothing left to ground him. His principles he had lost after helping other fighters during battle, something he thought he would **never** do, but he swallowed his pride and did it. He had even apologized to Gohan. He had never spoken the words ‘I’m sorry’ out loud in his entire existence. He had honestly never actually felt sorry before. But he said it to him after his emotions clouded his judgment and only made matters worse, and he had truly meant it.

For the first time, he had let his emotions drive him rather than his rational intellect. Who had he turned into? He wasn’t supposed to have feelings; he wasn’t supposed to care about anything! And yet when he saw his son die, something inside of him snapped that he had never felt before. If this was what it meant to care for someone, he wanted out, because it was absolutely miserable. What was the point in caring for someone if they could be lost so easily? It was like the day Trunks was born and he wasn’t sure if Bulma or the child would survive it. It was as though he short-circuited; he was completely out of control. After that had happened he immediately put distance between them to keep himself safe, so it felt natural to do the same to the adult version of his son. But he realized now, that had been wrong. He had spent far too long on this planet, and far too long around these ridiculous humans. They were making him question everything. And yet, the thought of leaving did not appeal to him at all. He didn’t want to leave this horrible place. Where would he even go?

He tried to breathe, but he was also pretty badly injured, his shoulder was most certainly dislocated and several of his ribs were cracked. Nothing he couldn’t handle, of course, but it made breathing difficult. He put pressure on his shoulder snapping it back into its socket and grunting at the crack. Physical pain never seemed to bother him, but this time it did because it was a reminder of all that had gone wrong. All that _he_ had done wrong.

He flew around for a while without any real sense of direction or purpose. As a goal oriented person, to not have any goals was a suffocating feeling. He had already surpassed Super Saiyan, a half-human half-Saiyan child was now far stronger than he was and he would never be able to challenge Kakarot and prove himself in battle now because he was dead. He was completely useless on the battlefield; he didn’t even feel worthy enough to call himself a Saiyan. Prince of what exactly? What did he even have left?

Bulma immediately popped into his head like an unwanted visitor. He had actively tried to avoid even thinking about her. She would never forgive him for this. And he didn’t know why that mattered to him in the first place, but for some reason it did. He could already hear her shrieking at him, or even worse crying. He had disappointed his son and now he would have to deal with the burden of her disappointment. She was already upset with him over his failure to be a father to the child version of Trunks and this would just rub salt into the wound. He would see Trunks leave for the future and then she would want him to leave too. He didn’t blame her. He had failed in every possible way. It didn’t sit right with him, this feeling. He would take a hundred blasts to his chest over this heaviness upon him.

He wished Gohan had never jumped in front of him to protect him from Cell’s blast. At least he would have gone with some dignity intact, he would have died trying to avenge his son. Instead he was left with this abyss inside of him. He felt as though he couldn’t breathe or see clearly. It was a jarring feeling to unravel completely, he worried there would be nothing left.

Vegeta landed in front of Capsule Corp, not even realizing he had been flying in this direction until he arrived. He suppressed his ki, not wanting Trunks to sense he was here. He wasn’t ready to have a conversation with him, or anyone for that matter. Possibly ever again.

~*~

Bulma fixed the blanket on baby Trunks in his crib and switched on the baby monitor touch screen. She then quietly opened the door to the room that older Trunks was staying in and saw him asleep in his bed. She smiled softly before retreating to the kitchen for a bottle of wine. After this week, more specifically today, she needed it to maintain some semblance of sanity. She uncorked a bottle of white, grabbed a giant wine glass and made her way back up to her room. She closed her bedroom door and then changed into her pajamas though she doubted that she would be able to sleep. Vegeta had still not returned to Capsule Corp and the small part of her that feared she might never see him again after everything that happened, continued to grow with each minute that he wasn’t here. She poured the wine numbly into her glass until it was almost overflowing.

Bulma slurped off the top of it and stared at the curtain-covered doorway of the balcony leading off of her room. Maybe some fresh air would help this suffocating feeling filling her lungs. She gripped her wine glass as she pushed aside the heavy curtains and slid the glass door open with her free hand, feeling the crisp evening air hitting her face. She walked over to the railing and stared up at the bright stars that scattered across the navy blue sky like freckles. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness around her and the moonlight coupled with the backlight of her bedroom kissed the edges of the balcony. She stared down below her balcony at the spaceship that she had built for him. Thankfully it sat dormant and that was the only thing giving her comfort at the moment. At least he hadn’t left the planet.

What would she even say to him if he did come back? There was so much to be said, how would she even begin? Sure she realized that she was indeed in love with him. But it felt like that just made everything so much worse. It would make his leaving that much more painful. She couldn’t watch him go again. She had been right 2 years ago when she watched him leave in his spaceship and felt like everything would be different when he returned. How would she even ask him to stay? What if he didn’t want to? She wanted to go back to feeling uncertain about everything. It was so much easier than whatever this was.

A cool breeze pushed her blue hair back away from her face as she leaned forward against the railing and closed her eyes before taking a long swig from her wine glass. She should have thrown her robe on before coming out here, it was colder than she expected and her shorts and tank top weren’t cutting it, but the cool air helped ground her from her painful thoughts. She took another long swig from the glass hoping the effects of the wine would start their magic and dull the sharp ache in her chest.

“At this rate, you’re going to give yourself a ‘hangover’ or whatever it was that you called it.”

Bulma gasped before whirling around realizing that Vegeta was standing against the far windowpane of the glass door with his arms crossed over his chest. She must have walked right past him when she came outside and not even noticed. She felt her heart slamming erratically in her chest at the sight of him. When she said she wished he would come back, she didn’t mean at this exact second. She was not prepared for this.

He was still in his armor and thankfully there wasn’t a gaping hole in his chest plate like there had been with Trunks. After today’s battle, Trunks’ armor had been broken, whereas it was Vegeta’s spirit that had been broken. She put her wine glass down on the balcony railing and walked over towards him. They stared at one another for a moment, his expression more unreadable than ever.

She didn’t give herself the opportunity to second-guess her actions and instead threw her arms around him.

Vegeta tensed as her arms wrapped themselves around his body the same way they did to him in the gravity room several years ago. He felt even more powerless against it now than he had then. Feeling her body so close to his, her scent lingering all around them was wearing down his already worn out resolve. His body began to relax against her, especially realizing that she wasn’t berating him about the events of the day like he assumed that she would. Instead she was embracing him. She truly didn’t make any sense to him.

His arms remained stubbornly folded over his chest even though her arms were wrapped around him and her face crushed against his shoulder, but he also didn’t push her away. If he had actually reciprocated the hug then that would have been cause for even more concern. She eventually pulled away from him and took a step back to try to read his expression, though it was like trying to decipher a code without any translation.

Vegeta had ended up on her balcony, though he hadn’t figured out why, it was just where his body landed. It almost felt like a gravitational pull towards her, even though he didn’t want to see her or talk to her, he was pulled here in spite of it all. He stayed here watching the day bleed into night until he felt her ki in her room. He knew she wouldn’t come out here because there was a chill in the air and she would be falling asleep any moment. But of course she decided tonight would be a good night to come out on the balcony that she almost never used because that was where he happened to be.

He stared at her, allowing his eyes the quick opportunity of drawing her in. Naturally she had to be half dressed in extremely short shorts and a tight revealing shirt. It was as though she was mocking him further with everything that he couldn’t have. The look she was giving him was confusing him, she didn’t seem mad or upset at all, though her ki ebbed and flowed like the ocean.

“I think you need this more than I do right now,” Bulma said as she picked up her half full wine glass from the balcony railing and handed it to him.

“Is this poisoned? It tastes terrible,” Vegeta grunted, making a face after taking a large gulp of the white wine and handing the glass back to Bulma who laughed before putting it back down.

“How long have you been out here?” she finally asked after what felt like an eternity of silence and him just staring at her.

He broke the intense stare between them, looking away from her. “I don’t know.”

Bulma felt her temper flare up. She had been so worried about him the entire day and he had been hiding up on her balcony for Kami knows how long! “You couldn’t bother to come inside and let me know that you were okay, or even just made your presence known? Trunks and I have been worried about you all day!”

Vegeta remained silent, still looking away from her. He didn’t know where to even start. He didn’t have it in him to argue with her, for the first time ever. He had never felt so tired before. Exhaustion filled his body like cement and weighed him down worse than the gravity chamber ever did.

“I failed,” he said quietly but clearly.

Bulma’s irritation immediately dissolved at hearing him say these words out loud. His eyes were closed and he opened them, staring downcast at the ground and looking anywhere but at her. It was heartbreaking to see Vegeta look so defeated. Even when he was near death from training too much, his arrogance never allowed him to accept defeat. She never thought she would see the day where he admitted failure, though she had no idea what he was even talking about. The Earth had been saved, Trunks was fine thanks to the Dragon Balls, and Goku seemed content with his decision to remain in the afterlife. She didn’t understand what failure he was talking about.

She remembered then, of course, his pride. That was ripped up into a million pieces and blown into the wind. He was ashamed for not protecting his son and for not being strong enough to defeat Cell. All of the time and energy he spent training and pushing himself to his limits were for nothing in his eyes. All of the positives in this situation were null and void to a Saiyan.

“Vegeta, you didn’t fail. Don’t you realize? Trunks knows that you care about him now. He heard all about what you did for him after he was killed and how upset you were. He also knows about how you helped Gohan to defeat Cell. He told me everything and he is so happy. If anything, he’s more proud of you now than ever before,” Bulma said gently, choosing her words carefully.

Vegeta still didn’t look up from the ground. Her words wrapped around him like a warm blanket enveloping his shell-shocked body. If there was anybody who wouldn’t bullshit him, it was Bulma. He knew she was being truthful. She would have laced into him if she had truly thought he failed or didn’t do enough for Trunks. If anything she was more upset at the fact that he had stayed away today because she had been concerned for his well being. It made absolutely no sense to him. After everything that had happened, that he had done. Hadn’t he done enough to push her away? Why did she still choose to care about him?

She carefully lifted up her arm and cupped her cold hand against his cheek trying to bring his head forward so she could meet his eyes. His eyes unconsciously closed at feeling her touch against his skin. Her fingers were like ice against his warm defeated face, bringing him back to life.

“I’m proud of you too, you know. I’d say that’s quite the opposite of failure,” she whispered softly.

His eyes opened and met hers.

He thought of the time in her lab, the first time. It had been several years but the desire to grab her and make her his once again was even stronger now than that day. Though rather than trying to slap him across the face, instead this time she had said the nicest thing that anyone had ever said to him. No one had ever said that they were proud of him before. Though in fairness, he had never done anything noble or worthy of such praise.

He had a pretty terrible day and was quite frankly tired of feeling awful about just about everything. He craved the sweet oblivion of shutting down his mind that felt like a broken record repeating and spiraling out of control, consequences be damned. He didn’t have it in him to fight against his impulses anymore so he abandoned all sense of rationality and reason and grabbed her waist, pulled her flush against his body and pressed his lips against hers. He could taste that horrible drink on her tongue but it tasted so much better on her.

Bulma knew that they needed to talk; she wasn’t delusional. There was so much that needed to be determined and hashed out. She knew that they should be talking and absolutely _not_ kissing. All of the details and uncertainties melted away as she lost herself in his arms. She would deal with all of that later. Her hand that had been cupping his face easily slid into his hair, and pulled them closer together deepening the kiss. Their tongues collided against one another and Bulma wondered why they ever stopped doing this in the first place. She then thought of Trunks, well both of them, but it eased her mind knowing that she had gotten the strongest IUD possible since giving birth, and if that didn’t work then that sounded like something she would have to worry about later and not ruin this moment between them now.

It all happened quickly, the sense of urgency was breathless between them. As he lifted her up into his arms, she wrapped her legs around him and he walked them both into her room, closing the balcony door with his foot in the process. Their lips parted for a moment as he brought her onto her bed, her back collided against the mattress. He kicked off his boots before climbing on top of her. Her legs fell down against the mattress, but her arms remained around his neck. There was enough space between them for their eyes to meet one another in a silent, unspoken confirmation that they were really going through with this all over again. This was their chance to stop, but neither of them wanted to. Bulma pulled his head back down to crash their lips together once again, and she moaned quietly as his tongue slid against hers.

Vegeta braced himself on his arm that hadn’t been dislocated, and let his other hand roam freely over her body as their kiss became even more heated. His injuries from today had not fully healed but he didn’t feel them at all. He hated himself for how much he missed this and how badly he felt that he needed it in this moment. It had been far too long, especially for him adding 3 years from training in the Time Chamber. But he also didn’t care. He tore her flimsy shirt clear off of her chest, not wanting to break their kiss, but also needing to feel her at the same time. She gasped against the kiss, as he discarded the torn fabric across the room and cupped her full breast into his gloved hand. He stopped what he was doing, realizing that he needed to really feel her, and sat up from her so that he could pull the white gloves off of his hands. As he started to do so, Bulma unbuckled the chest plate of his armor and slid it off of his body, tossing it to the ground. He pulled the skintight navy blue shirt of the body armor over his head and threw it to the floor where he had thrown his gloves.

He stared down at her admiring her form and her bare chest. She was the perfect distraction from his unraveling thoughts, from his terrible day. Though deep down he knew this was far more than just a distraction. She was the anchor locking him down in place, grounding him in safety as the tide tried to pull him away and the storm bore down on him relentlessly. As his eyes lingered on her longer than was probably necessary, she slid her shorts and underwear off, kicking them off to the ground with the rest of their clothing. He covered her body with his and crashed his lips against her neck. She whimpered softly, the sound vibrating against his lips that were moving across her throat. He bit down at the juncture between her neck and her shoulder and she cried out, knowing there would be a mark there tomorrow.

Bulma lifted her hips up to meet his and grinded herself against him, feeling his hardened length straining painfully against the blue leggings still attached to his body. She slid her hand underneath of the waistband and grabbed at his cock. He made a groaning sound against her chest that jolted her right between her legs that she wanted to hear _often_. She gripped her hand around the base of his length and stroked her hand up and down against him.

His hand slid down her body, finding her wet entrance immediately and without any hesitation slid 2 fingers deep inside of her. His mouth continued its assault against her chest, sucking and nibbling at her hardened nipples as he slid his fingers in and out of her, stretching her entrance out. His thumb pressed against the peak of her entrance and her grip became tighter around his length as a shuddering moan fell from her lips. Bulma brought her fingers to her mouth, coating them with her saliva before bringing them back down to his hardened length, sliding her wet tightening grip around the head of his cock and back down to the base.

Vegeta lost all sense of reality for a moment, and the desire to take his time with her immediately disappeared as his eyes nearly rolled into the back of his head. He grabbed both of her wrists with one hand, holding them over her head as the other gripped the base of his cock and he slid himself inside of her. Bulma cried out as he filled her completely and rattled her wrists against his strong grip in protest. His free hand twisted into the blankets underneath of them, as he paused, actively fighting against the urge to ram into her repeatedly feeling how tight she was around him. He closed his eyes. It had been far too long and he needed to gain some semblance of control on himself before he hurt her or released too soon. She moved her hips up against his and his eyes shot open as he moved his hand that had been twisting in the sheets to wrap underneath her shoulder for leverage as he slid halfway out of her and thrust back in.

They both moaned in harmony at the sensation and as he let her wrists go, her hands immediately came to his back and clawed at his shoulders as he slammed himself in and out of her. Her legs wrapped themselves around him to help ground herself and find a rhythm with him. He stared down at her memorizing how her face twisted in pleasure and her eyes slammed shut, only to flutter back open.

Vegeta pulled himself out of her just as suddenly as he had entered her and Bulma mourned the loss of contact. Before she had the opportunity to protest, he had her flipped over onto her stomach and knees facing towards the headboard of her bed. He pushed the palm of his hand down against her back so that she leaned forward on her forearms and was on all fours in front of him. She lifted her hips upward and he immediately slid his length inside of her again, this new angle made it difficult for either of them to be quiet. He gripped her hips tightly as he slid in and out of her. She rolled her hips against his, pushing her body forward until his cock was almost completely out of her before clenching her entrance around him and sliding back down until their bodies were flush against one another.

One of his hands left her hip and entangled his fingers into her blue hair as he slammed in and out of her. Bulma bit her lip, hard to stop herself from screaming and waking up the entire house. She didn’t realize just how badly she had missed this until now. Their words could be twisted against one another making situations worse. Communication was clearly not their strong suit. But _this,_ this physical connection they shared didn’t need words; it didn’t leave room for miscommunication. It said everything without actually speaking. If only their minds could catch up with their bodies.

He lifted her up slightly, pulling on her hair so that she was on her knees now in front of him, sitting upright. The haziness of everything made her feel as though she couldn’t sit up without needing to collapse, so she gripped the top of the headboard in front of her to help brace herself. She could feel his muscular chest and abdomen pressed against her back as his hand twisted into her hair tighter, pulling her head back even more, so that he could press his lips to her neck again. He continued to thrust into her, this time slower with more precision as he finally was able to grip clarity again. His other hand found her clit and he pressed his fingers against her in circular motions in time with his thrusts. Bulma gripped the headboard until her knuckles became white and misshapen, as she met his thrusts and struggled in vain not to scream. His hand untangled itself from her sweaty hair and slid around to cup her jaw, and help conceal her cries against his hand.

It didn’t take long for him to make her release, as she muffled the sound of her scream against his hand, biting down against his palm. All of the pent up emotions and physical tension built up snapped like a rubber band pulled back too far. Once her scream had faded and she nearly collapsed against the headboard, he gripped her hips once again, holding her upright as he rammed himself in and out of her a few more times until his own shuddering release deep inside of her followed by a poorly concealed groan.

Her pulse thudded wildly out of control against her eardrums, as she panted in search of air. Once she started to get her bearings and her heartbeat regulated, she realized the position they were in. Her hands were still gripping the headboard in front of her, and his arms were wrapped around her body tightly with his front pressed against her back and his face in the crook of her neck. She paused trying to memorize this moment where Vegeta embraced her even if it was from the heat of the moment and he hadn’t realized it yet.

~*~

Trunks’ eyes shot open as he startled himself awake and shot up in bed. Another nightmare. Thankfully he couldn’t remember this one though he was certain the Androids were in it. His heart pounded in his chest relentlessly. He grounded himself back into his surroundings. He was still in the past, and it was in the middle of the night. He took a deep breath in and released it slowly as he moved his fingers. He touched his chest where the hole had been from Cell’s blast, shaking off this unsettled feeling. He got up from his bed and decided to go grab a drink of water, something he would do often when he was woken up by nightmares.

He felt his father’s ki, and he could barely contain his happiness that he had actually returned. He made his way down to the kitchen only to realize that his mother and father had already beat him to it. He quietly observed them from the darkened hallway that he was half hiding in. He would never get the opportunity again to see them together alone and he had to admit that he was beyond curious.

The two sat at the table on opposite sides facing one another. His father’s bare back was faced towards him and he was stabbing thick steaks with a large fork and putting them onto his plate. He had 5 different plates laid out in front of him that he was filling with food from various opened containers on the table. He was only wearing the blue leggings part of his battle armor and his mother was wearing an oversized t-shirt and shorts pajamas. He wondered why his father was dressed in such a way but shrugged it off.

“What sort of food was there in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber?” Bulma wondered as she spooned some pasta onto her plate.

“Pre-packaged nonsense, meat and vegetables that needed to be cooked,” Vegeta grumbled before shoveling a mouthful of steak into his mouth.

“Wait, you had to cook?” Bulma gasped and nearly dropped her spoon. “How did you survive? You didn’t burn down the Time Chamber, did you?”

Vegeta sighed in annoyance. “Will you not let me eat in peace? I haven’t had a decent meal in days and I would like to enjoy it without you irritating me.”

“Me irritating you is part of the joy of having this midnight snack. Oh! Let me go get the extra sauce from the fridge too,” Bulma realized as she started to get up from her seat. She winced as she tried to stand and realized she had to move more slowly as her body was extremely sore from earlier. Vegeta smirked at her as she opened the refrigerator and pulled out another container to add to the feast that filled the kitchen table.

“Are you going to come in or are you just going to hide in the hallway all night?” Vegeta snapped in between mouthfuls and Trunks blushed scarlet when he realized that he was obviously talking about him and had sensed his presence. He should have done a better job suppressing his ki.

“Huh?” Bulma stated in confusion not understanding what on Earth Vegeta was talking about before Trunks walked guiltily into the kitchen.

“Oh Trunks, I didn’t know you were awake! You were asleep when I checked in on you earlier,” Bulma said with a smile seeing her grown son. She paled slightly and felt a blush warm her entire face. Hopefully her and Vegeta hadn’t been so loud earlier that they were the reason he had woken up. Sneaking around her young adult son was unchartered territory for her.

“Yeah, I just woke up and wanted to get a glass of water,” Trunks said leaving out the part about having a nightmare in front of his father. He scratched his head and ran his fingers through his purple hair sheepishly. Thankfully his mom had cut it again before he had gone to sleep, but he had gotten used to the long length it had become.

“Are you hungry? There’s plenty of food here!” Bulma said getting several plates before Trunks even had the opportunity to answer her.

“Yeah, sure,” he replied before sitting down at the other end of the table. Vegeta did not make eye contact with him and continued to eat from his plates of food.

“Help yourself!” Bulma announced as she handed the plates and utensils to Trunks.

Trunks dished out a bunch of different things onto his plate and silence filled the room. He began eating, savoring each mouthful. The food had been so delicious since he had been staying here in the past. He wished he could bring it to the future with him.

“Is everything okay?” Bulma asked eying Trunks as he was eating slowly and politely. She was used to Saiyans shoveling food down their throats, even Vegeta who had table manners ate with speed and urgency.

“Yes, it’s delicious. I’ll have to tell my mom when I return that in this timeline you’re a great cook! I doubt she’ll believe me, she can barely make rice,” Trunks said in amazement.

“The only thing your mother can make is a phone call to the nearest food delivery place,” Vegeta snorted. “The deranged blonde woman, your grandmother, is the one who cooks everything, thankfully or we’d all be dead.”

Trunks choked on his mouthful of food at his father’s words trying desperately not to laugh and instead trying to play it off as a cough.

“At least I know _how_ to work a phone, you jerk! Remember the time you blew up the microwave because you didn’t understand how to make it work? _‘The blasted machine isn’t cooking my food fast enough’_ meanwhile you hit the defrost button instead of actually cooking anything!” Bulma shouted, perfectly imitating Vegeta’s voice on the fateful day he shot a blast at the perfectly good microwave.

“Not my fault you humans make faulty machinery,” Vegeta scoffed. “It shouldn’t take that long to prepare food.”

Bulma rolled her eyes before eating a mouthful of pasta. At least they were all talking and enjoying one another’s company, even if it seemed that it was at her expense.

“Trunks if it’s possible can you come back and tell us how it goes in your timeline with defeating the Androids and Cell? I’ll be worried about you and I’m sure me from the future will understand so-” Bulma asked while they all quietly continued eating their respective meals.

“Stop coddling him, he’ll be fine” Vegeta interrupted her. “The androids are child’s play compared to Cell in his perfect form. He’ll have no problem defeating them.”

Trunks felt his heart swell with pride. That was the closest he would ever get to a compliment from his father.

“I know he’ll be fine, duh! Trunks is smart, he inherited my intelligence. So he’ll make sure not to allow Cell to absorb the androids… unlike some other people,” Bulma said with a giant smirk crossing her face. That was for his comment about her cooking before. Game, set, match.

Trunks thought his eyeballs would pop out of his head at his mother’s words, he choked on his mouthful of chicken, but this time at the expense of his father who had a murderous look on his face. He really couldn’t get over how much his mother wasn’t intimidated by him. It was truly remarkable.

“Oh lighten up, Vegeta. I’m just messing with you,” Bulma laughed innocently at the look on his face.

“Would you mind putting some coffee in a capsule for me too? We’ve had trouble coming by some in my timeline and it would make my mom so happy,” Trunks asked thinking that now was the perfect time to change the subject before his father started blowing up appliances again.

“Of course! I can’t even imagine how horrible it must be for me without my daily coffee consumption,” Bulma said in horror. How did she even get anything done or function?

“Nothing compared to the horror the kid has to face putting up with any version of you when you don’t consume that poison. I’m sure he’d rather fight Cell again instead,” Vegeta said stealing the smirk that had been on her face seconds ago.

“That’s fair,” Bulma admitted with a laugh knowing how miserable she could be without consuming enough caffeine.

Bulma, Vegeta and Trunks continued to eat their midnight meal with a strange level of normalcy. He didn’t know what the future held for his parents, especially since his father was alive in this timeline, but this meal between them seemed to be a good start. Trunks wondered if this was what life would be like for the young version of himself in this timeline. He felt a pang of hope and pang of jealousy simultaneously, wishing beyond reason that it could have been him instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed the next chapter! It was a fun one to write, especially Vegeta going down an emotional spiral. Thank you all so much for your kind words, feedback and encouragement. It really means so much to me and helps me get these chapters out as quickly as I can. Please leave a kudos or a comment if you liked this chapter as well. What's next for Bulma and Vegeta? Will they ever actually talk about their situation or keep ignoring it and jumping each other. Stay tuned for the next chapter!
> 
> xx  
> Mawr Blaidd Drwg


	3. Stay

The time machine faded forward into the future and as she waved, Bulma felt her heart tighten knowing that this version of her son was gone. It felt like a loss, though she knew he was just going to his own time and back to a different version of herself but it hurt nonetheless. She didn’t know how to explain this feeling she had of hopefulness and grief all at once and she turned to Vegeta, the only other person who could fathom what was going on in her mind. He stood by the trees, still a good distance away from the group. It was nothing short of a miracle that he was even outside with everyone else right now. She hadn’t even guilt tripped him or lectured him into doing so. Of course Vegeta hadn’t talked to anyone and he nearly laughed when Krillin was passing out the black armbands for everyone to wear to honor Goku and asked him if he wanted one. But he was still here when it mattered, to say good-bye to their son.

He was staring up at the sky where the time machine had been seconds ago, his brows furrowed together. He turned to her as though he felt her staring at him and their eyes locked onto one another. She gave him a small sad smile, blinking back the tears that stung her eyes, but never fell. His frown softened ever so slightly as he looked back at her, a silent private glance between them surrounded by her friends.

“There’s more cake and coffee if anybody wants some,” Mrs. Briefs said happily to everyone who seemed to be thrilled at the idea of consuming even more food than before.

Bulma took Trunks from her mother and he immediately started to play with the turtleneck top of her black and white dress. She had strategically worn a turtleneck even though it wasn’t that cold out to cover up the giant mark Vegeta had left on her neck from last night. A shiver ran through her thinking about it and she grabbed a toy from her father to distract Trunks and herself.

Her mother had planted a garden in Goku’s honor near the gazebo and small lake on the Capsule Corp property. It wasn’t much, but seeing as they didn’t have a proper funeral or arrangements it was at least something. Before Trunks left, they had all said a few words, other than Vegeta who sulked about 100 feet away from everyone, and shared their favorite stories about him, though none of it felt like enough. None of it felt real. Bulma still felt as though Goku would just show up in the middle of them talking and ask why they all looked sad or when they were eating the breakfast buffet and try to steal some food off of somebody’s plate. But he never did. Bulma could only look to Gohan and see that he was being strong in spite of it all, and if he could do it then there was no excuse for the rest of them not to.

As everyone talked and laughed on the outdoor deck enjoying the dessert spread, Bulma searched the area for Vegeta, specifically on the patio railing about 20 feet away from everyone where he would likely be, only to realize he wasn’t there. Bulma scooped Trunks up from his high chair and walked to the edge of the balcony. Vegeta was inside of the gazebo with his arms folded over his chest and staring out onto the water. She smiled softly and fixed Trunks’ hat on his head.

“Let’s go see Da-da,” she whispered secretly to Trunks, who seemed thrilled at the idea, before sneaking away from her group of friends.

“Kakarot, you fucking clown,” Vegeta grumbled quietly as he stared at the sign in front of the small garden. “Even your memorial is foolish.”

He stared at the small sign in front of a bunch of colorful well-manicured plants. It all seemed so ridiculous to him, having a garden, wearing these black armbands. What difference did it make? He felt Bulma’s ki approaching him and clenched his jaw into place. She was probably going to yell at him for not ‘socializing’ with everyone. He would rather fight Cell again than have to talk to any of them.

“Here’s some cheesecake,” Bulma said. “I know you don’t like the super sweet kind of cake with icing like I do, but this you’ll definitely like. My mom makes it the best.”

Vegeta turned around to face her and saw she was holding a plate with several pieces of cream-colored cake on it. Trunks was resting on her hip with her other arm around him, gnawing on a bright blue toy. He stopped as soon as Vegeta made eye contact with him and shook the toy at him instead as though he was waving. Vegeta stared down at the plate, surprised that she wasn’t yelling at him and instead was bringing him some sort of dessert that smelled good. He eyed her suspiciously for a moment before grabbing the plate and fork, and taking a mouthful of the cheesecake. It was dense but also light, and it melted in his mouth with its subtle sweetness. He hated this planet but he had to admit that the food that it offered was pretty incredible.

Bulma wanted to say so much more but she also knew this was not the place or time to do so. She wanted to thank him for making an effort and actually being present, well as present as he could be, but also knew it would probably just annoy him if she brought it up to him. She felt that introducing him to cheesecake was the best way of saying thank you that she could think of.

“So, what do you think of the garden?” Bulma asked with amusement coating her words, as she knew Vegeta probably thought it was ridiculous and would mock it. She craved to hear his grumpy critique after such a serious and emotionally draining morning.

Vegeta scoffed in between mouthfuls of cheesecake. “It’s pointless. Saiyans don’t have memorials or any of this nonsense. It’s not like Kakarot cares what you all do, he’s dead.”

“So if a Saiyan died, then what happened on your home planet? How did you honor their memory?” Bulma wondered as she shifted Trunks onto her other hip realizing just how big and heavy he was getting.

Vegeta shrugged, “Saiyans usually died in combat. The best way to honor a fallen comrade was to not be an idiot and get killed yourself.”

“Interesting,” Bulma mused. She shouldn’t be surprised that Saiyans didn’t think too deeply about death. First the nursery pods for infants, now absolutely nothing for the dead. It made more and more sense why Vegeta was so screwed up every time she dug deeper into his past.

“So what did Saiyans believe happened when you died? Did they believe in an afterlife? Obviously on Earth we got a first hand account of the afterlife from my friends who died and were wished back by the Dragon Balls. But I wonder if Planet Vegeta was different.”

Vegeta finished his mouthful of cheesecake and frowned slightly, trying to remember more and more about his heritage. Sometimes he could remember everything with such a gripping clarity as though he was there yesterday. Other times it felt blurry like a dream you tried to remember when you woke up, but couldn’t recall all of the details. He remembered when he had died, when Frieza had taunted him and blasted a hole directly through his abdomen. How he cried and begged Kakarot to kill Frieza because he assumed he was never going to come back from it. He didn’t think that he would somehow get through the loophole into the Dragon Balls wishing him back. He had been taught not to fear death as any warrior should, but at the time he had never been more frightened of anything than dying, especially at the hands of Frieza. He could barely remember the afterlife on Namek, but he knew that it wasn’t good. He was certainly on his way to hell after all of the egregious and awful things he had done in his life before the Dragon Balls worked their magic.

“Saiyans did not fear death, it’s part of life. They didn’t give the afterlife too much thought and instead just tried to live life to the fullest because there was no guarantee of tomorrow,” Vegeta replied.

Bulma nodded. That made sense based on their behavior that she knew of. If they thought too much about an afterlife, then they probably wouldn’t have been so ruthless in battle. Even though Saiyans were advanced in certain ways such as with science and technology, they were very primitive in other ways. It was interesting to compare Vegeta and Goku because Vegeta had been raised with Saiyan tradition and thrown into servitude with Frieza, whereas Goku was raised by Grandpa Gohan and his friends. Goku was taught morals, values, love and sacrifice. Vegeta was taught quite the opposite. But somehow he had already made positive changes just being surrounded by the humans he claimed to despise. Once again she found herself grateful that Vegeta had been willing to share as much as he had about his past, especially since he hadn’t even tried to argue with her about it.

“Bulma we’re heading out,” Yamcha called from the porch. Bulma had snuck away from the group, though Yamcha had noticed her departure. He watched them from the porch noticing how she brought Vegeta cake and the way that his face softened a little bit at her presence. He knew that Vegeta had been MIA after Trunks was born most of the time so he assumed that it was just something that had happened between them and resulted in a child. Especially when he saw how he treated poor Future Trunks. But he had also seen first hand how Vegeta reacted when Trunks was killed in front of him. He never thought he would see Vegeta act in such an emotional way. He didn’t understand it, he certainly didn’t agree with it but he realized then that his ex-girlfriend had most certainly moved on. It was none of his business at this point anymore and he just hoped that she would be happy.

Bulma turned to look at her friends, forgetting all about them during her short conversation with Vegeta. She felt her irritation grow at being interrupted, but also knew she shouldn’t be rude and had to say good-bye. Trunks started to cry and she turned to Vegeta to explain that she would be right back but he was already gone.

~*~

“It’s a shame Vegeta missed his first steps!”

“He missed his birth too so it’s not that big of a deal I guess,” Bulma replied with a hint of disappointment in her words.

“That’s not true. I saw him in the hallway after Trunks was born,” Mrs. Briefs said happily.

“What are you talking about?” Bulma said doing a double take. She held Trunks’ tiny fists in her hands still, helping him stand on his own.

“Your father came to tell me that it was a healthy baby boy and I was so excited to _finally_ be a grandmother and so of course I cried. When I was wiping my eyes with a tissue, I saw him come back to the medical wing. He was pacing around the hallway outside of your room. As soon as he heard that you and Trunks were okay, he left,” she said thoughtfully.

Bulma couldn’t contain the shock on her face. “What? How come you never told me that?” Bulma asked.

“I figured you already knew honey!” Mrs. Briefs replied.

Bulma stared down at her son who looked back up at her and seemed to be just as surprised even though he obviously had no idea what they were talking about. Just when she thought Vegeta couldn’t surprise her anymore she heard this bombshell. Why had he lied to her then and acted like he didn’t care what the outcome had been? She’d probably never know the answer but couldn’t help the smile that warmed her entire face at the thought of Vegeta pacing around the hospital wing worried about her and their son.

~*~

Trunks began to wail as the touch screen monitor vibrated next to Bulma’s computer. She sighed in frustration. Trunks had been giving her problems with staying asleep the last couple of nights and she had no idea why. He would go to sleep easily without any fight and then about an hour later he would wake up screaming. She started to get up from her desk chair not wanting Trunks to wake up everyone in Capsule Corp with his blood curdling screams before the motion sensor of the monitor alerted her that Trunks was not alone.

“Stop screaming, you will wake the dead with that volume,” Vegeta’s voice crackled through the monitor.

Bulma’s heart leapt at hearing Vegeta talking to their son, even if he was scolding him. She watched the monitor screen as Vegeta approached the crib. Trunks’ cries immediately stopped, as he seemed to sit up in his crib and notice Vegeta standing there. Trunks started to wave at him and giggled. Vegeta’s frown intensified as he stared at his son.

All he needed to do was flex his ki and the child knew he meant business. Disciplining Saiyan children was easy, all that needed to happen was for them to know that someone far above their power level was calling the shots. They would back down, like a beta yielding to an alpha. Trunks was not fully Saiyan, but he could sense the flicker in his father’s power level, which was a good sign at least.

“Go to sleep like you’re supposed to,” Vegeta instructed the child who was standing up in his crib at this point.

“Da-da!” Trunks declared happily as he shook a stuffed dinosaur at Vegeta.

Bulma gasped happily hearing Trunks saying “Da-da” and somehow knowing that Vegeta was his father. She had referred to him as Da-da several times but Vegeta also had not been anywhere near Trunks most of the time. He had already said Mama many times and a few other jumbled syllables but he said Da-da very clearly.

He stared at this small child who smiled at him and he thought of the future version of his son, immediately making him tense up and remember all that he had done wrong.

“I said, go to sleep,” Vegeta said more firmly this time before flexing his ki slightly once again.

Trunks giggled before laying down in the crib and clutching his dinosaur toy. Vegeta watched him for another moment before leaving the room.

Bulma kept the monitor out on her desk, glancing at it every once in a while but it appeared as though Trunks had listened to Vegeta and thankfully actually went to sleep. She’d have to ask Vegeta what he did to make him listen like that because it would certainly save her a headache and a few sleepless nights.

Bulma went back to focusing her attention onto her computer. She stared at the windows open in complete and utter confusion. Since she had asked Trunks for the capsule that held the time machine that Cell had traveled in, she had been looking over potential formulas and blueprints that she made for the machine. She had to give her future self kudos, because time travel was one of the most intricate and nonsensical things that she had ever tried to figure out. She rubbed her eyes before exiting out of the different tabs. She suddenly felt as though she wasn’t alone.

She knew it was him without turning around. He didn’t break the door down like he used to when he entered her lab, and he didn’t storm in declaring that the Gravity Room needed to be fixed. He was quiet this time, but she felt an immediate shift in the energy around her and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. Maybe she was somehow learning how to pick up on ki.

“You missed Trunks’ first steps,” Bulma said not looking up from her computer.

“What does that mean?” Vegeta asked as his brows crinkled together in confusion.

“Your son, Trunks. The baby version, obviously. He took his very first steps on his own today. He fell down, but he was _so_ determined to get back up and do it again without any help. It reminded me of you,” Bulma explained as she turned around from her computer and stared up at him from her seat.

He had changed into his usual training shorts and shirt but she hadn’t heard the Gravity Ship humming with life at all today. He must have been training elsewhere. He had disappeared after Trunks departed 2 days ago, which she assumed would happen. She also couldn’t explain how, but she knew he would come back; she hadn’t even been concerned when he wasn’t accounted for. She was pleasantly surprised to see him go to see Trunks before but didn’t think he would approach her so soon after. If anything, she thought she would have to go and bother him at some point.

“What is the significance of this?”

Bulma smiled softly. She forgot momentarily that she was dealing with a Saiyan. “Trunks hasn’t walked on his own at all. Since he was born, he has been carried, held or crawled as a means of getting around. He took his first steps and that shows his steps towards independence and getting older. It’s sort of a coming of age thing here on Earth,” she explained.

Vegeta nodded in understanding, “So it’s like when Saiyan children emerged from the nursery capsules, that meant they were ready to undergo their training.”

“Yeah sort of like that,” Bulma agreed.

“So the child is ready to start training then,” Vegeta observed. He was much younger than most Saiyans that emerged from the nursery capsules. But it made sense; it was his son after all. He had Saiyan royalty flowing through his veins. Of course he would be ready to start training at such a young age. The future version had been incredibly strong and powerful at a young age as well and he hadn’t even had the opportunity to be trained by a _true_ Saiyan before traveling to the past. At this rate his son would be far more powerful than Kakarot’s kid before he was the same age.

“Uh, I don’t know about that, Vegeta. He seems pretty young to start training… he only took like 3 steps independently today,” Bulma paled thinking about Vegeta’s insane training regiment and of her innocent little baby boy. She had flashbacks to all of the times Vegeta blew up the Gravity Chamber or ended up in a body cast.

“If he’s able to walk on his own then he’s ready for training. He’s not just a weak human, he’s part Saiyan as well,” Vegeta snapped in annoyance. She was trying to coddle the child _again_.

Bulma shut down her computer and stood up from her chair, stretched her arms out and took a deep breath in. She tried to not overreact especially since Vegeta was actually discussing with her how their son should be raised which he had never done before. She took this as a good sign and decided it was best to swallow down the concern she was feeling about Trunks training. She knew deep down that Vegeta would never do anything to endanger their child, especially after how gutted he was when Future Trunks had died. He vowed to never allow that to happen again.

“Okay, well he still needs some help with getting around right now, but once he is more independent with his movements then we can revisit this,” Bulma finally said as diplomatically as possible.

Vegeta didn’t respond and Bulma realized that this was the first that they had talked about the future of their son in any context. Maybe he didn’t want to revisit this in the future, because maybe he wouldn’t stay. He hadn’t mentioned that _he_ would specifically train Trunks, just that he was ready for training, though she couldn’t imagine anyone else doing it. Her stomach turned at the thought.

Vegeta watched her as she moved and also took notice of the desk that her computer was currently on. He hadn’t been in her lab in quite a while and realized that she had moved some furniture around and had several more machines built in the room. Her computer was on a metal worktable instead of the fancy glass desk it had been on years ago. He took notice of the metal worktable specifically the middle part of it that seemed to be warped and misshapen and the imprint of a fist or fingers was permanently twisted into it, but sanded down and refinished.

Bulma noticed that Vegeta seemed distracted by something on her computer desk and turned around to see what had caught his interest, especially since she had already shut her computer down for the night. She figured he would probably make fun of her for the mess that was her lab, empty coffee cups, piles of papers and sticky notes scattered across boards on the wall. But it was organized in its own way. Organized chaos, it was how her brain operated.

He walked over to her desk and touched the edge of it, pausing his fingers where the misshapen metal began. He thought of the first time between them, in this very lab and remembered the worktable that he had practically snapped in half in the heat of the moment in trying not to accidentally kill her. Why had she made this her desk? It was a pretty unstable worktable in the first place, it was a miracle it didn’t collapse when he had fucked her on it and it had been nearly broken by him. As he touched the misshapen metal he couldn’t explain the way his heart thudded away in his chest like a machine with a battery that was slowly dying out.

Bulma realized what he had noticed and felt her cheeks flush scarlet. She hadn’t anticipated Vegeta ever going into her lab again after everything that had happened and in all honestly she had sort of forgotten that she made this change, since she had done it so long ago, before she even knew she was pregnant with Trunks. It seemed silly and a bit naïve probably, but it gave her comfort sometimes to look down and see the twisted metal. She didn’t really know why and she couldn’t explain it even if she wanted to. But she certainly _didn’t_ want to and hoped Vegeta wouldn’t chastise her about it.

Bulma waited for his torment, but he didn’t say a word. He turned around finally and faced her and the expression on his face was one she had never seen before and couldn’t possibly name even if she tried. He walked over to her, the unsettling silence lingering between them, until he was barely inches from her. She waited expectantly for him to say something, _anything_ but he never did. His hand moved toward the collar of her lab coat, sliding it down ever so slowly and she couldn’t hide the shiver that ran through her entire body as the fabric glided past her collar bone and her shirt. His other hand regarded her neck where the mark he had made was. It had turned a grayish blue by now, like a spilled drop of paint on a white canvas. His finger touched it curiously and gingerly and all of Bulma’s thoughts were consumed with kissing him.

But then it hit her like a bolt of lightening. She would not be hypnotized again. No matter how his touch made her long for him. They needed to talk and it was going to happen, now or never.

“I can’t do this anymore,” Bulma whispered in a quiet revelation. She pushed her hands back against his chest, putting distance between them and his hands dropped to his sides. Her words betrayed her body that had trembled at his touch.

She took a deep breath in, not sure if she was brave enough to say the next part out loud. But she had enough. This conversation had been put on hold for too long and she had reached her breaking point. “I need clarification. I need _something_. I can’t carry on with this as if everything is okay, because it’s not.”

She paused, “If you’re going to stay, then you need to be in this with me for real, Vegeta,” she breathed the sentence out as a slow exhale from a breath that she had been holding for years.

He turned away from her, breaking eye contact and she could see his profile perfectly illuminated by the small lights from the lab machines tracing his face. His face did not betray his thoughts or feelings in any way, as she expected. But she didn’t care how he felt about all of this; she needed to speak her mind.

“I mean it. And not just because you don’t want another person to touch me or hug me, because that’s not fair either. You can’t make those sort of demands when you have not made a single commitment to me; I do not belong to you. I’m not yours, if you’re not mine.”

She couldn’t believe these words were coming out of her mouth. At this point, why stop now? It felt like blood rushing out of a wound, the blood couldn’t clot without a bandage, and this conversation and closure between them would be the only way.

“I know you don’t know how to do this. Quite frankly, I don’t either. I also didn’t know what to do when I was stranded and pregnant with a half-saiyan baby and terrified and _by myself_ , but I figured it out. I don’t **need** you and I know that I can do it on my own because I’ve had to this whole time. But I _want_ you. I want you to stay, I want you to try this and I want you to just _try_. I’m not expecting things to be perfect. We may end up killing each other, we may end up actually happy. Honestly, probably a little bit of both knowing us. The thing is, I know the person that you were before and I know the person that you choose to be in front of others. But I also know the person that you actually are deep down and I think that person deserves a fighting chance at a good and happy life, Vegeta.

“Maybe that scares you, and no I don’t mean that as a weakness, I’m not mocking you. I recognize that you have probably never experienced actual happiness or care before and it likely is terrifying to think about and this is difficult for you to even discuss. But if you let me in, even a little bit, we can try. I’m scared too. That’s part of life, when you care about someone it’s scary, because you don’t want to lose them. That doesn’t make you weak, that makes you stronger because then you will do everything you can to protect them.”

He remained silent, too stunned by her complete and utter honesty. She always spoke her mind, which was one of the things that had attracted him to her in the first place but she didn’t often speak her true _feelings_. She was a proud person too, but she laid it all on the table in front of him.

“But if you’re going to leave, if that’s what you really want, then please just go. I will help you get the ship ready, I will do what I can to make sure that you have what you need and I will wish you well, sincerely. If you want to somehow be a part of Trunks’ life and visit we could figure out an arrangement that is suitable. If you don’t want that, then that’s fine too. As I said already, I can do this on my own. I don’t need you if you don’t want to be here. I did a perfectly good job raising Trunks on my own in the future timeline. But stay because you want to, not out of obligation. Or I don’t want you here at all then.”

She swallowed hard, not really knowing how she mustered up this sudden burst of courage to say what she had been thinking and feeling for so long, too long. It felt good to take off this burden that had been weighing her down like an anchor and slowly drowning her out at sea. She had said her peace and whatever the outcome may be, she had tried. She couldn’t do more than that.

“You need to pick one though, Vegeta. It’s not fair to me and it’s not fair to our son. We deserve better.”

She assumed his silence meant that he was either thinking or perhaps he had a stroke from processing too many words and emotions all at once. She walked around him to leave her lab with her head held up high. She would not wait forever. Even if it killed her, even if she could feel her heart slowly cracking and splintering into pieces, she would survive it. She would carry on as she always had. Vegeta may be known for his pride, but so was she. She meant it when she said that she didn’t need him. She didn’t need anyone. But she really wanted him. More than she had wanted anything before.

She felt his warm calloused hand loosely grab her arm, gently stopping her in her tracks.

“Bulma,” he said.

It wasn’t really fair. The profound effect it had, hearing her name uttered from his lips as he said it so rarely. She stopped her movements to leave the room but was too scared to turn around and see his decision written all over his face.

Vegeta softly spun her around until she collided against him with a thud. Bulma still hadn’t made eye contact with him, fearing that the tears welling in her eyes would spill over. She had not wanted to cry, but after such an insane emotional release of speaking her true honest feelings, her tears had a mind of their own. His other hand found its way to her cheek, which he gently cupped, forcing her widened blue eyes to meet his black eyes.

His eyes searched hers for a moment and she hadn’t realized she was holding her breath until she finally released it. His eyes were unguarded in this moment, and it made her heart beat stutter and come to a stop. It felt like she was meeting Vegeta for the first time.

So much had changed since the arrival of the Androids, Cell and most significantly their son from the future and their son right now. If they had had this same conversation before all of this, his answer would have been a very simple and easy one. He probably would have laughed at her or mocked her for her words and display of emotion. Had he changed so much? Had it happened over night? Or had it happened so slowly that he hadn’t had the chance to even notice it or try to stop it? How had he gone from the proud and ruthless warrior arriving to this planet hell bent on destroying it, to instead somehow protecting it and now seriously considering staying here and raising a family?

After his home planet had been obliterated, he had not given any thought to having a mate because all of the Saiyans had been killed. Even when he was a few years younger, he assumed he would die in battle young, as most Saiyans did especially since he had no kingdom to rule, nothing important to live for.

And then he met Bulma. He remembered being on Namek and when he saw her for the first time, he almost did a double take. A female had never caught his attention so drastically before, she had nearly distracted him with her beauty. Something like that had never happened to him, should never have happened to him. And then he came to Earth and got to know her, which had been even more dangerous because he came to learn that she was intelligent, strong willed, quick tempered and just as stubborn as he was. More importantly she wasn’t intimated or afraid of him, for reasons he’ll never understand. But she had been committed to the weakling, so it was easy to ignore her. But then she wasn’t attached to anyone anymore. And it all happened so fast. She found the only crack within him and snuck her way inside without him even realizing it. But his plan had been since they found out about the Androids to fight them, defeat Goku and leave. So he never considered anything serious.

He obviously had also never thought of being a father once his kingdom had been destroyed. And then Trunks came along. Both of them. Somehow he was a father and while that didn’t seem to matter to him on the surface, it apparently did deep down. He would never forget how it felt to watch his son die right before his eyes. He would never allow something like that to happen again. He also knew he had no idea what he was doing when it came to being a father. He had disappointed the future version of their son at every turn, and the child he actively avoided. What would happen if he actually tried? He thought of Trunks smiling at him from his crib and happily proclaiming “Da-da!”

His pride twitched within him like a wound that would never heal properly because he could never stop picking at it. The memory of his father reminded him, warriors should have no weaknesses to distract them. He thought of Kakarot. The fool had been surrounded by weaknesses and he was considered the strongest warrior on Earth. And then he thought of Gohan, a kid who used his weakness, his level of care and commitment to keeping others safe, as a means of his strength. Gohan’s deep dark rage over Cell hurting innocent lives is what resulted in the ultimate demise of Cell. He thought of his son, how strong he was and how hard he worked to prove himself for his father’s respect. All of these weaknesses did quite the opposite of making these warriors weak. Their weaknesses made them stronger.

That wasn’t what was holding him back anymore. Saiyan traditions of mating meant that once a mate was taken and a commitment had been made, they mated for the rest of their lives. He thought of how fickle and foolish humans were from seeing their interactions and watching their television shows and movies. He thought of the weakling breaking his commitment to Bulma and dishonoring her, how easily humans broke these commitments. Did she know what she was asking of him? What it meant if he stayed?

_“I don’t understand what my mom ever saw in you or why she’s never moved on. You are so selfish and cold.”_

He considered Trunks’ words that he had tossed at him in anger. Why _had_ she never moved on? He knew without a doubt that the future version of himself was just as rough and hadn’t made any promises to her. Plus he had died. But she never moved on, even without making any commitment. He thought of the table behind him that Bulma had kept and used as her desk now because it reminded her of him, and what happened between them. Even though he had given her nothing, and pushed her away every chance he could get.

It dawned on him suddenly like a blast to the chest, that even if his home planet was not destroyed and he could pick any Saiyan female as his mate, he wouldn’t pick a single one of them. He would still pick Bulma. He had already practically marked her as his the other night without even realizing it and seeing the bruise on her neck. This thought settled itself within his mind, planting roots and taking up space and filling his body with a weird tingling sensation.

“Saiyans mate for life,” he finally said quietly his black eyes piercing into her.

It was so like Vegeta to give her a one-sentence reply to her pouring her guts out. She almost wanted to laugh. “I remember you saying something like that. How you either killed one another or mated for life,” she replied.

“You are not a Saiyan,” he said and she flinched. So this was it, this was him leaving. She wasn’t a Saiyan, so he wouldn’t commit to her. At least it was something that was completely out of her control. It wasn’t her fault that she wasn’t a Saiyan after all. She felt completely numb. She tried to turn away from him, but he kept her firmly in place. His hand was no longer cupping her cheek, but his other hand still held onto her arm.

Vegeta felt her ki do a somersault, realizing she was misunderstanding his words. “Humans do not seem to follow this tradition, they don’t have any honor and easily break their word,” he pointed out.

Bulma processed his words, realizing now that he was not talking about how he didn’t want to commit to her, but rather he was concerned she didn’t want to commit to him, or that she didn’t know what such a commitment truly meant to Saiyans.

“Some do… but many don’t break their word,” she answered him truthfully.

He gave her a long steady stare.

“Trunks said that the future version of you never moved on… why is that?” he asked.

Bulma had been curious about this but had never asked Trunks what her future self was up to. She was afraid of the answer. But she knew deep down, the answer was so clear to her especially in this moment. She thought of him pacing the hallway outside of the delivery room without her knowing it. She thought of how love always seemed like a complicated endeavor but really it was just so simple.

“I think you already know why,” Bulma whispered in response.

Silence filled her large lab and Bulma wondered if she would drown in it. His eyes searched hers again as though the answer to his question would somehow be there.

“Fine,” he said.

“Fine?” she wondered.

“Fine. I will try.”

For a moment, Bulma thought about all of the romantic movies she had watched, the books she had read. All of the sonnets and poems from famous authors cutting their hearts open onto paper and bleeding them into eloquent and beautiful words. She had given Yamcha grief when they were dating because she thought that he didn’t say enough romantic things to her or bring her enough flowers or anything like that. So, she never thought she would consider the words, “fine. I will try” to be so beautiful. But those words coming from Vegeta meant more to her than any ridiculous book, movie or poem.

“Fine,” she echoed his word.

She realized that “fine” should sound nonchalant as though you were okay with whatever the soup of the day there was at a restaurant and not the beginning of a future with someone. But in their case it meant everything. It was the start of an agreement, the title for a first chapter. It was lifting up your pinky before linking it with another for a pinky promise. It was taking the first step without even knowing where the trail went.

“I will try too,” she said and the words had barely escaped her before their lips found one another. She didn’t know who started it; it had always been so obvious the other times before. Perhaps neither one of them did and instead this time, they both leaned in at once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone again for your kind words and kudos! Ya'll are the best <3 and I really look forward to reading your comments so much! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and that our favorite couple finally had "the talk" though there is certainly more that needs to be worked out, this is a start at least! Please let me know if you liked the chapter and I will get to writing the next one soon! There may be a little bit of a delay as I am traveling next week but I will do my best!
> 
> xx  
> Mawr Blaidd Drwg


	4. Adjustments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not know Vegeta’s actual birthday (I couldn't find anything in my research!) so I made an educated guess based on astrology profiling (and also because I share the same sign that I gave him and I think it fits XD). I actually didn’t know Trunks or Bulma’s actual birthdays and I assigned them their specific signs and random birthdays that fit while I was doing the rough draft. I did some research to find their actual birthdays and realized I was actually pretty close (which was pretty cool!) Anyhow! I hope you enjoy <3
> 
> xx  
> Mawr Blaidd Drwg

“This is ridiculous,” Vegeta sighed in annoyance as he stared at the obscene pile of presents that were currently on the balcony surrounding Trunks. There were more than he could even count. “You’re spoiling him too much.”

“No I’m not! Turning 1 is a really big deal, so I wanted to make it extra special for him!” Bulma said defensively as she snapped a few photos on her phone of Trunks who was currently playing with a crumpled up piece of wrapping paper instead of any of the toys that were currently available to him.

Vegeta didn’t understand what this ridiculous celebration was even for but when he mentioned that he needed to train instead of witnessing any part of it, the look Bulma gave him made him made him realize that he should at least make an appearance so that she didn’t disable the Gravity Chamber or kick him out of her bed for a week. Everyone had already left by now and Vegeta timed his appearance perfectly so that he only had to deal with the others for a short amount of time and was still able to get something to eat and appease Bulma by making an effort.

“He doesn’t even care about the blasted toys that he has. He’s more interested in that paper,” Vegeta pointed out much to Bulma’s annoyance.

Before Bulma was able to come up with a smart response she realized Vegeta was suddenly distracted by something on the lawn of Capsule Corp. She knew that the look on his face meant something serious was happening and he clenched his fists at his sides.

“What is it?” she asked breathlessly as she put her phone into her jean jacket pocket and walked over to where he was standing and what he was staring at.

As she looked down following his line of sight, she saw the same time machine that she watched fade away barely 2 weeks ago. Her heart started to race. What if something went wrong in the future? What if Trunks wasn’t able to defeat the Androids somehow and needed help? What if Trunks died fighting and it was her future self using the time machine to get help? What if he didn’t defeat Cell and instead Cell had traveled to the past once again? She had finally started to feel at ease with everything finally coming to a resolution with Cell defeated and an actual commitment between her and Vegeta that she was not expecting to feel this sudden rush of anxiety.

She was half hiding behind Vegeta when the top of the time machine eased open and she saw the face of her son from the future appear. He had on his armor that she had made for him and he searched the area for them before looking up from the grass and seeing them. A big smile spread across his face as he waved up at them.

“Oh Kami! Trunks you almost gave me a heart attack!” Bulma shouted down at him in relief.

“What are you doing back here?” Vegeta grumbled and Bulma narrowed her eyes at him, nearly smacking him upside the head for his rude bluntness towards their son.

Trunks lifted up from the ground and landed onto the deck that his parents were currently standing on.

“I came back to let you know that everything worked out okay with the Androids and Cell. My version of the Earth is finally starting to rebuild and return to a new kind of normal with peace,” Trunks explained.

“That’s wonderful news!” Bulma exclaimed as she hugged Trunks. “Thank you for coming back to tell me, like I had asked. I knew future me would understand.”

Vegeta’s frown deepened as he stared at the grown version of his son. Seeing him reminded him of his failure that was still fresh in his mind and salted the open wound. Though he was proud to hear that his son single handedly defeated the Androids and Cell, though Cell wasn’t in his perfect form, not that he would ever say anything of course. He folded his arms over his chest and glared at him.

Trunks observed the scene around him in mild confusion. His mom was dressed in a nice purple dress and jean jacket and his father was dressed in regular pants and a button down shirt, rather than his training gear. The baby version of himself was sitting in a high chair surrounded by boxes of toys and there were different colored balloons scattered across the deck. It looked like there was some sort of party.

“Wait a minute… was I born on a different day in this timeline? My birthday was last week,” Trunks said with realization dawning on him as he realized this must be some sort of birthday party for the baby version of himself. There were significant changes but he hadn’t thought that his own birthday could be one of them.

“June 1st?” Bulma interrupted him. “I wanted to wait until the weekend so that more people could come and celebrate. Everyone already went home for the day, I’m sure they’ll be sad that they missed you! I can call them and let them know you’re here if you want!”

Vegeta turned his frown to Bulma who hadn’t noticed and narrowed his eyes even more.

“No-no that’s okay, I just wanted you to know,” Trunks said quickly noticing his father’s annoyance at the idea of having to see the entire crew again.

“It’s actually an interesting coincidence that you showed up today for your own birthday party! You should have a piece of cake!” Bulma observed.

Bulma immediately walked away from the two and started to grab a plate and pile leftover cake onto it as well as a plate of food. Trunks felt the intense stare from his father and finally met his eyes. He was happy to see he was still here and apparently making some sort of an effort with the baby version of himself and his mother. He didn’t know what sort of situation he would be returning to and this was honestly the best-case scenario he could have imagined. His mom would probably pass out when he told her that Vegeta attended his first birthday party and changed out of training clothes for it. He couldn’t help but smile thinking how far he had come.

“What’s so funny,” Vegeta snapped at him as he unfolded his arms.

“Uh, nothing,” Trunks said the smile immediately leaving his face. Some things would never change.

“Here you go honey,” Bulma said as she brought the plates over to Trunks and handed another plate of hot dogs and hamburgers to Vegeta. The group sat down at the table with baby Trunks and Bulma couldn’t help but snap another photo of both versions of her sons together eating their birthday cake. She needed to commit this moment to memory and of her son from a different timeline that she would never get the chance to see again. Her heart hurt again like it did the day he left nearly 2 weeks ago.

~*~

“You don’t always have to leave, you know,” Bulma said quietly to Vegeta’s bare back that was sitting on the edge of her bed traced in shadows.

It had been over 2 months since Trunks’ birthday party. So far everything had been going surprisingly well between them, it felt like it had before Trunks was born but without an expiration date hanging over their heads or the impending doom of the Androids looming ahead. It felt so new and different, yet oddly familiar, like getting déjà vu that made you feel dizzy with familiarity. He had made tiny steps towards interacting with Trunks more, by eating with them during dinnertime though he didn’t say much. She had also thankfully convinced him to hold off on training Trunks a little bit longer until his coordination with walking had gotten better. Physically Bulma had never been happier in her entire life, her mood had been drastically improved as a result, but now she wanted to try to push the intimacy part of their relationship a little further. She had even waited a little while specifically because she knew that Vegeta would likely not be comfortable with this. Tonight, rather than going to the kitchen for their usual midnight snack, she wanted to see if she could convince Vegeta to stay with her in her bed.

“I’m not leaving, I’m going to sleep,” Vegeta replied as if the answer was so obvious to him.

Bulma softly traced the muscles on his back with her fingers, and Vegeta felt his eyes unconsciously starting to close. It was truly mind-boggling how even though he had just fucked her within an inch of her life, just feeling her touch moments later already had him reeling for more. Her fingers hypnotized his body into forgetting moments in time and it didn’t really seem fair.

“That is… unless you are not tired yet,” he said, though he had to admit he was surprised by her level of stamina.

Bulma sat up so that she was on her knees on the bed directly behind him and rested her chin on his shoulder, draping her arms across his abdomen.

“I _mean_ that you can stay here and sleep instead of going to your room,” she clarified.

Vegeta frowned into the darkness. Sleep? In her bed? Instead of his own? How preposterous!

“What? How would I even sleep?” he grumbled in confusion.

“Just like you normally would… you lay down and close your eyes,” Bulma answered with a hint of amusement. “Nothing else would change, I would just be next to you instead of you being alone.”

“I don’t understand the point of this,” he replied as he turned his head so that he could meet her gaze in the darkened bedroom.

Bulma sighed, blowing a rogue strand of blue hair out of her face. She tucked the strand of hair behind her ear and chewed on her lip for a moment. How would she explain this in a way that Vegeta would understand? “People who are in relationships on Earth, share a bed to sleep in. It’s actually abnormal not to sleep in the same bed with the person you are committed to. People who are physically together, but _not_ in any sort of commitment typically don’t share a bed because it is seen as too intimate,” she explained.

Vegeta’s frown creased even deeper into the darkness. Why did he need to sleep next to her to show he was committed? It seemed a little ridiculous. They would be unconscious so what would it matter if he was there or not? Earth customs made little to no sense to him.

“It’s nice to be able to wake up and the person you are committed to is the first thing that you see,” she added.

Vegeta didn’t know how to respond to this because he still felt the whole concept was dumb, but he could tell by the way Bulma was insisting that it seemed important to her for some reason. Since their agreement, he was starting to slowly learn the right and wrong times to piss her off and this was definitely not the right time to do so. No matter how stupid it all sounded.

Bulma tried to read his expression in the dark but it was difficult to see him clearly. He hadn’t laughed at her so that was at least a step in the right direction but he also didn’t say anything. A small light bulb popped up above her head as she realized a key component to her case that would definitely sell Vegeta on the idea. A devious smirk spread across her face. Intimacy was something Vegeta did not quite understand, but she knew something else that he _definitely_ understood and would be on board with.

“Also, if we were to share a bed then that would mean even easier access to having sex whenever we’d like whether it was at night, or even in the morning when waking up,” she said innocently. “Besides, I don’t wear all that much clothing when I go to sleep.”

Vegeta’s frown lifted considerably as he considered her words, finally understanding the benefit of this bizarre sleeping arrangement. “Fine,” he muttered as he fully turned around in the bed to face her.

“You really are shameless,” Bulma laughed.

“And you really should have just lead with that part of your argument,” Vegeta smirked before he had her pinned to the bed underneath of him.

~*~

Vegeta didn’t understand how people were able to share a bed with someone else. He already hated the Earth but at this point he was considering blowing it up for real since they decided to have this absurd sleeping custom. He hadn’t slept since this whole ordeal began and he was starting to slowly lose his mind. Had it been days? Weeks? He was starting to lose track of time. He had considered just going back to his room to try to get some sleep and then sneak back before she woke up so that she would be none the wiser, but at this point he felt it was a personal challenge to overcome this.

Bulma tossed and turned relentlessly in her sleep. There were a few opportunities when he thought he may actually fall asleep only for her to nearly punch him and kick him several times, which he was impressed and surprised to admit almost made contact with him. She also made so much noise that he wondered how she didn’t manage to wake herself up in the process. The alleged benefits of this sleeping arrangement were null and void if he was not getting any sleep and couldn’t get his strength up. At this rate, it was beginning to affect his training and his mood.

He had slept in far worse conditions, remembering bleakly the claustrophobic pods that he had to travel in from time to time, or trying to rest after being injured so severely that he couldn’t even breathe. Nightmares used to wake him up often and would rattle him so deeply that he would struggle for a while before falling back to sleep. But for some reason, with having Bulma next to him he couldn’t sleep _at all_.

He lay next to her now, his black eyes wide open and staring up at the ceiling. He had started to memorize the patterns that the light from the moon and stars outside made on them. He could hear the hum of the cooling system installed in Capsule Corp to keep out the heat. He tried to fade himself into a meditative state. If he could handle surviving in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber for a combined 3 years, then he should be able to fall asleep next to Bulma.

Right on cue, he caught Bulma’s fist with his hand that had started to swing at him and gently placed it back down at her side. He sighed as he turned his head to watch her. Her face was pushed against her pillow and she was positioned half on her stomach and half on her side with all of her limbs splayed outward. He didn’t understand how she was able to sleep like this. He would usually wake up in the same position that he had fallen asleep in, but she tossed and turned so much at times it felt like the bed was the ocean with the current passing through.

He closed his eyes again and focused on his breathing, slowly breathing in and breathing out even more slowly. Since she just threw a punch at him, he’d likely have a bit more time before she tried to kick him if his calculations were correct. He let his mind go completely blank as he continued to focus on his breathing until he felt as though he was swimming in a pool of void, fading away from this bed and from reality.

“No!”

Bulma’s eyes flew open. She was by no means a light sleeper but sudden screaming had woken her up with a start as if 5 alarm clocks were blaring off around her. She turned on her side to look at Trunks’ baby monitor on her night stand only to see he was still sound asleep in his crib. His heart rate and oxygen levels still looked normal based on the monitor’s reading, so she knew he was safe.

“Stop!”

She reached over and turned on her bedside lamp, squinting her eyes as the room was suddenly flooded with light. Once her eyes adjusted, she realized that the sounds were coming from Vegeta who was otherwise a completely silent sleeper. His entire body trembled and she could see sweat pooling at his forehead.

“Vegeta,” she said her voice still raspy from sleep.

His head shook back and forth violently and he was beginning to scare her. He must be having a nightmare, though by the looks of it, it was a pretty awful one. She had never seen this happen before and didn’t really know how to proceed. He appeared to be in a great deal of pain and she was trying to figure out the best course in trying to help him.

“No!” he shouted even louder this time. His body was convulsing and shivering. His fists were clenched so tightly blood was starting to drip down his arms. Bulma feared he may turn into a Super Saiyan without even intending to at this rate and may blow up the entire bedroom.

“Wake up,” she said loudly, hoping the sound and volume of her voice would alert him.

Unfortunately that didn’t seem to work either. Any fear Bulma had was wiped away at seeing Vegeta in such distress. She had to help him somehow. She reached her hand over to him and grabbed his bicep trying to stir him awake.

His other hand grabbed her wrist with such speed that Bulma hadn’t even seen it happen. His hand tightened around her wrist and she felt the bone snap under his touch.

“Vegeta, stop!” she gasped in pain as she heard the loud crack her bone made.

His eyes shot open and he sat up quickly blinking his eyes several times and crouching in almost a fight-like stance. His whole body still shook and his eyes looked wild like a feral animal.

“Vegeta?” Bulma said quietly this time, hoping to snap him out of whatever state he was in.

He blinked a few times, finally making eye contact with her and she saw _her_ Vegeta return back to his eyes, not whatever terrified creature he was seconds ago. He stared down at his hand that was grabbing her wrist with horror and immediately dropped it as though he had touched a hot stove and tried to recoil his hand right away to stop from getting burned. He stared down at his hand that had been holding her wrist, his brows furrowing even more than before.

He got up from the bed quickly getting dressed. Bulma also got out of the bed and threw her robe on but he was already walking out of the room.

“Vegeta!” Bulma called after him but he was gone before she could even process what was happening. She lifted her arm that was dangling at her side and gingerly touched her broken wrist. She had no idea what just happened or where he was going.

///

Vegeta shot up from the bed, his entire body covered in sweat and tremors running through him. He blinked himself back into his surroundings but his vision was going in and out. He didn’t know where he was and his vision was distorted by his erratic pulse hammering against his skull. He gasped for air, feeling as though his heart was beating so quickly it may actually burst out of his chest. His vision finally started to come back into focus, like a camera lens being turned back into place. He was in Bulma’s room, the light had been turned on and Bulma was sitting up in the bed her blue eyes wide and full of concern as she gaped at him. She was trying to say something but he couldn’t hear her words, as though the volume had been turned all the way down on the television and he couldn’t read her lips. Her eyes looked like they were in pain and he realized that he was grasping something and looked down at his hand to see that he had grabbed her by the wrist, clenching it tightly.

“Vegeta?” she said weakly as though it were a question and not his name anymore.

He immediately dropped her wrist and heard her audibly wince in pain. He stared down at his hand that was trembling so hard that it practically vibrated. He watched her gingerly touch the wrist he had been apparently grabbing and realized that he had hurt her and not even realized it. Regret filled every fiber of his body. Staying in this bed with her was a mistake. He should have known better than to do this. He had hurt her.

He immediately got up from the bed and dressed. Her voice a blur in the background as he was already out of Capsule Corp and taking to the night sky.

Flashes of his nightmare began to hit him like unrelenting energy blasts that he had no hope of blocking or deflecting.

_“They are weak low-lives, they don’t deserve to live. Kill them, now.”_

_Vegeta stared ahead at the group of beings. Most of them were women and children based on the physical attributes of the males they had just been fighting. The children were not much younger than he was and they were cowering in fear. Saiyans were known for their brute strength and fighting tactics, but they were not raised to kill and attack weaker beings that had no hope of even putting up a fight. That was seen as dishonorable. Even on Planet Vegeta infants power levels were tracked while they were in nursery capsules, if they had a low power level they weren’t given the job as a warrior, rather a different career. Saiyans fought those that could hold their own and would actually make for an interesting challenge. This was something different entirely._

_“Doesn’t Frieza need them to mine this planet? I thought the whole purpose of coming here was to not only take the planet but mine the raw materials?” young Vegeta asked._

_It was his first mission under Frieza’s command, and he had been told to follow orders or it would not bode well for the Saiyans. He thought that they would take over the planet, fight anyone who tried to fight back and put the rest of the beings to work. He didn’t know he would be slaughtering a bunch of innocent children._

_He was immediately sucker punched to the gut so severely that he heard several ribs crack. Blood splattered from the gasp that flew from his lips and landed on the ground beneath him. He heard Nappa and Radditz behind him get into a fighting stance ready to strike if Vegeta commanded it of them. He knew that would be futile and would only cause more problems._

_“That’s **Lord** Frieza to you, you insubordinate little shit, now do as I say or your home planet will suffer the consequences,” Zarbon sneered at the young Saiyan who he was surprised to see hadn’t fallen to his knees from such a punch. He would have to hit harder next time. The next punch hit him directly in the jaw, feeling the jaw bone snap out of place. “That is unless you are too weak to do what is asked of you.”_

_Vegeta stood up, feeling his broken ribs shifting in his body and causing a shooting and searing pain. His jaw felt like it would fall off from his face. But he refused to wince. He was not weak. His home was counting on him. What were these creatures compared to his father’s life and his entire kingdom? He didn’t know them, they weren’t as important. He spat a wad of blood at Zarbon’s shoes, several droplets splattering across the white fabric and staining them._

_Vegeta walked away with his head held high, lifted up his small hand and started forming a blast in his hand and aiming it towards the group. The females screamed and pleaded for mercy trying in vain to shield the children behind them. Vegeta’s hand shook ever so slightly at his hesitation. He thought of his mom’s screams when she died._

_“That’s what I thought. A stupid, weak, little monkey. How disappointing. Everyone said that the young Saiyan prince was strong and ruthless too, they must have been mistaken. Lord Frieza will not be pleased.”_

_Before the sentence had completed in the air, Vegeta started shooting blasts at the group of defenseless creatures. Not knowing that he would hear their dying screams in a constant loop for years to come. Not realizing that from this moment on, he would never hesitate to kill on command, nor would he think twice about killing those that were in his way. He was not weak, he would show them, he would show all of them. And one day he would get older and stronger and he would even show Frieza. He would show him what happened when you fucked with the Prince of the Saiyans._

Flash.

Vegeta had landed in a forest and was sitting under a tree, not even remembering how he got here. He lifted his hand, which trembled so violently in front of him as he stared at it. His sweat had turned cold and he felt as though he was going to be sick. He didn’t know where he was. Was he still on the planet? He searched around the area looking for Zarbon or for Nappa. He stared at his hands again. They weren’t small anymore, he realized grimly. He took in his surroundings once again. He was on Earth. He was not a child. His whole body shook as he leaned his back against the tree trying to find his breath.

He didn’t remember that ever happening. Was it a memory? Or just a distorted dream? Vegeta had never hesitated to kill before. He never considered innocent lives in such a way when he was working under Frieza’s command. It couldn’t be a memory. Could it? A shiver trembled through him and it felt as though the ground was falling out from underneath of him. He could still feel the pain in his ribs, the unhinged feeling of his jaw hanging from his face. It was so real it felt as though it was only seconds ago that it all happened.

The sun rose and bled into night and all the while Vegeta sat under the tree trying to find his sense of reality. Bulma popped into his head and he felt her anchor him once again, felt stability in what was real and what was happening right now. He thought of her gently tracing the lines on his back with her small soft fingers. He tried to focus on that, as he was able to grip clarity once again.

And then he saw the look of horror on her face, the look of pain as he grabbed her wrist and snapped it. He could hear the crack out loud as if it was happening all over again right in front of him. He heard the crack coupled with the screams of the children from that planet. He heard Trunks’ screams merging with theirs. His hands shook as he rubbed his hands over his face and ran them through his hair. He sunk back against the bark of the tree trunk and slumped his body downward.

~*~

Bulma stared down at her cup of instant ramen. She had barely slept since Vegeta left and tonight was clearly not an exception, as she didn’t even know what time it was. It was nearly a week now and she was really beginning to worry about him, though more than anything she was hurt that he had just decided to vanish into thin air instead of talking to her about it. Their agreement had been that they would try, but this felt very much like Vegeta falling back into his usual pattern of disappearing to avoid things he didn’t want to deal with.

She pushed the chopsticks around realizing she wasn’t even that hungry. Her wrist was put into a brace to help it heal and she was grateful that at least it was her non-dominant hand that had been broken though she still didn’t understand what happened in the first place.

The sound of boots hitting the ground stirred her out of her thoughts. That sound could only mean one thing.

Bulma looked up from her ramen cup and stared at Vegeta standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He was still dressed in his armor and his face was hardened, not with a frown but as though he had seen a ghost.

“Well, I guess you’ve decided to come back,” she said coldly.

He stared back at her, his face twisted into an almost frown.

“You can’t just disappear like that if you’ve made a commitment, you know,” she snapped at him as she turned away from his gaze and instead focused on picking at her fingernails.

“You should at least let me know what’s going on or how long you’ll be gone for. I think that’s at the very least reasonable,” she added before looking back up at him.

Vegeta realized that she didn’t appear to look mad at all; rather she looked hurt as though he had said something that insulted her or wounded her pride in some way. Her jaw was set into place and her mouth formed a line, her blue eyes darker than usual. He knew that she was right, though he had no intention of confirming this with her. In the moment he needed to get out and had not thought about any unintended consequences. In all honesty, he was not used to having to share his life with someone else and all that it entailed. He didn’t even know where to start.

“I’ve been pretty patient and understanding in all of this but you’ve gotta meet me halfway,” she said calmly before getting up from her seat at the kitchen table. She placed the ramen container into the sink and walked around him standing there as if he wasn’t even there at all and he could feel the sting of each word. He would take her shrieking and yelling any day over whatever this was.

“Bulma” he said.

He grabbed her arm loosely to try to stop her in place, and his hand slid down gingerly and met a wristband that was covering the same wrist he had accidentally grabbed last week. His stomach dropped realizing just how much he had hurt her. She paused, turned around and stared him dead in the eye with a fierceness that would have turned Medusa herself to stone.

“Oh no, that’s not going to work this time. You missed _my_ _birthday_ while you were gone,” she said before grabbing his hand that was on her arm and pulling it off of her. She turned away from him and left the kitchen without another word.

Vegeta stared at the empty space that she had just been standing in and felt a shudder run through him, he didn’t really know what the big deal was about a birthday but he knew from the look on her face that whatever it was, he was _definitely_ in trouble.

~*~

Bulma lay in her bed in the dark with her arms folded over her chest, her sore wrist sticking out numbly. She thought that she would feel much better after speaking her mind to Vegeta, but she didn’t. He hadn’t said a single word to her other than her name, which was weird. And the look on his face was one she had not seen before; it _almost_ looked like remorse. She was still hurt, and disappointed but she felt as though she was missing something and now she was wide-awake. She played over what happened the day he left in her mind so many times now it felt as though it was a movie that she had rewound so often she had memorized every detail of each scene.

She knew he wasn’t thrilled about the idea of sleeping and sharing a bed together, but he had at least tried it for a few days. She remembered being startled awake by him shouting, grabbing her wrist and jumping out of the bed, he left the room without even addressing her or speaking. Her wrist had been broken from him grabbing her though she knew he had done so unconsciously. She hadn’t seen him since that happened. She had even tried to follow him out of the bedroom to try to understand what had happened to cause him to act this way, but he was already gone.

As she lay in the dark she considered just getting out of bed and heading down to her lab to get a head start on an upcoming project because it didn’t seem as though sleep would be happening any time soon. Just as she was about to roll over and flip on her bedside light, she heard her bedroom door creak open and then close. Her entire body froze as she then heard the sounds of boots being kicked off onto the ground and armor clanking down beside the boots. The other side of the bed dipped in as she felt another body join her inside of her bed. She could feel the warmth of his skin radiating off of him and tingling the hairs on the back of her neck. Vegeta didn’t say a word, but his presence next to her spoke volumes. Her back was turned to him and she desperately wanted to roll over and see the look on his face, but also felt the need to stand her ground after their conversation in the kitchen. Bulma realized she was holding her breath before slowly releasing it.

“What is so important about a birthday?” he finally grumbled into the intimidating silence.

Bulma smiled widely in spite of her earlier disappointment and anger towards him. Only Vegeta could make her go from wanting to rip her hair out to almost laughing out loud at his innocent confusion about Earth customs. He didn’t need to know that though, and he wouldn’t be off the hook that easily.

“Every year humans celebrate on the exact day they were born. A birthday is the day of your birth and you get presents from family and friends, sometimes there’s a big party to celebrate or a really nice dinner. At the end of the party or dinner, you get a cake and put candles on it and everyone sings to you, you blow the candles out and make a wish and everyone eats the cake,” she explained realizing how oddly silly all of it sounded from an outsider’s perspective.

Vegeta snorted with laughter.

Bulma rolled over so that she could glare at him and Vegeta’s laughter ceased.

“You were being serious,” he realized.

“Yes I was being serious, you jerk!” she snapped at him.

“I thought that they were only for children. Or that only the first birthday was significant, like how you did for Trunks when you spoiled him with all of those toys and food,” Vegeta frowned as he remembered that ridiculous day that Bulma wouldn’t stop going on and on about.

“The first birthday is a really big deal, but there are also other important milestones in birthdays. Don’t you remember my birthdays in the past? I’ve had cake and small celebrations before when you were here. It’s my favorite day in the whole year!”

Vegeta shrugged, “I was probably busy training.”

Bulma rolled her eyes realizing that he was right. He was never around on her birthday before.

“Anyway, it hurt my feelings that you weren’t around for my birthday because it is an important day to me. I didn’t expect you to know that but if you had communicated with me instead of disappearing then I would have gotten the chance to convey that to you,” she explained.

He gave her a long steady stare and she knew that if she held her breath waiting for an apology from him, then she would probably suffocate.

“Fine,” he said. “What is the day of your birth then?”

“August 18th, the eighteenth day of the eighth month of an Earth year,” she explained. “I can get you a calendar so that you can keep track of this. And Trunks’ birthday too, which is June 1st, if you remember when the future version of our son came back.”

He grunted in acknowledgement committing this to his memory so that he could avoid her wrath next year. He would have to figure out how to read and understand this calendar thing that she spoke of. It was unbelievable, the prince of Saiyans learning birthdays and Earth calendars. What had he been reduced to?

“When is your birthday?” Bulma asked suddenly curious.

Vegeta shrugged. “Saiyans don’t waste time worrying about ridiculous things such as birthdays.”

“Well, if you had to guess based on Earth seasons and time, when do you think it would be?”

Vegeta sighed in annoyance before he felt her glare at him and remembered that he was still on thin ice with Bulma.

“Probably when it is not hot or too cold, before snow gathers but after plants start to die,” he replied thinking about his favorite weather and time period to train outdoors on Earth. Often the leaves turned golden and brown and fell to the ground. He liked the aggressive crunch sound they made when he stepped on them. He liked the moderate temperature after dealing with the extreme heat and cold in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

“I’m guessing sometime in November then. You’re probably a Scorpio. Makes a lot of sense honestly with your moodiness and mystery. Also explains why we butt heads so often. Scorpios and Leos are not a good combination. Okay I’m going to pick a day to be your birthday then and you’ll get your first birthday celebration this year!” Bulma rambled on out loud, her mood immediately lifting at the thought of making Vegeta blow out candles on a cake while her family sang happy birthday to him.

“I understand about thirty percent of what you say,” he said in annoyance as he folded his arms over his bare chest.

Silence sat comfortably between them, Bulma’s eyes started to close and she thought she may actually fall sleep after a week of barely getting any rest before it dawned on her that she still didn’t know the full story of what happened or what caused him to leave a week ago.

“Why did you leave?” she asked quietly.

She could feel Vegeta’s body become rigid in the bed next to her.

“We agreed to try, and that means that you need to be honest with me and communicate. Even if it’s uncomfortable,” she reminded him.

He sighed in discomfort. “I hurt you, I broke your wrist,” he said as he lifted up her arm and gently inspected the wristband.

“Did you do it on purpose?” Bulma asked, though she already knew the answer.

“What? No!” Vegeta immediately said defensively, slightly wounded that she would think that he would intentionally hurt her.

“So, then it was an accident, Vegeta. I _know_ you would never purposely hurt me. I’m not upset about that. I’m upset that you disappeared without even a word. I had no idea what was even going on or what happened,” she explained. “I was worried about you.”

Vegeta set his jaw firmly into place. This was exactly what he didn’t want to happen. He didn’t want to talk about any of it. From the determined look on her face he knew she would never stop pestering him about this so he might as well just tell her.

“I have nightmares or flashbacks sometimes that disturb my sleep. I’ve always slept alone so it hasn’t been an issue before. I just wake up and deal with it. Most of the time I don’t remember what they are even about,” he explained.

Bulma turned her arm that he had been inspecting so that she was able to touch the palm of his hand while he spoke to her.

“Do you remember what this one was about?” she asked.

His frown deepened even more, not wanting his brain to go there again. After these flashbacks, often time he would forget most of it anyhow and would just be left with an unsettled feeling that lingered until the next episode. Like the high-pitched sound your eardrum makes after a loud sound or explosion. Constantly ringing to the point that you forget it’s even there anymore once you get used to it. But this time had been different. It had been so real it unnerved him. He lost his sense of time and his sense of self. He remembered everything so vividly that he was worried if he went back into it, he would lose control again. He had already broken Bulma’s wrist he wasn’t sure what else would happen. That was why he had stayed away for an entire week; to try to get control of himself and of the situation. He wasn’t sure why the flashbacks were getting worse. Especially since life had calmed down for him quite drastically, he figured now would be the time for them to disappear and stop haunting him finally. But if anything it had intensified.

“If you’re not comfortable talking about it yet, you don’t have to,” Bulma finally said after a long while of silence and turmoil written across his face. “I hope that one day you are, and know that I’ll be ready to listen.”

Vegeta felt relief flood his entire body.

“Just please don’t disappear like that again. Tell me that you need to go train or need some space or something, I’ll understand. But it’s important to me that you at least explain first,” she said firmly.

Vegeta nodded. That seemed reasonable especially since she was respecting the idea that he didn’t want to talk about it. He wasn’t sure if he ever would want to. Especially with her. She didn’t need to know every detail about the horrific things he had done in the past. She would probably never want to be near him again if she knew everything.

“I’ve never seen you like that before. I was worried you weren’t going to come back,” Bulma admitted looking away from his intense stare.

Vegeta frowned at her words. “Saiyans don’t break their word,” he explained as he toyed with a piece of her blue hair that had fallen in front of her face. He pushed it back behind her ear and let his hand linger there.

Bulma gave him a small smile.

“Vegeta?”

“Hm?” he grunted.

“I’m happy you’re back and all but… you really need a shower,” Bulma said as she plugged her fingers over her nose like she had done several years ago when he came back to Earth the first time and she teased him.

Vegeta nodded in agreement and got out of the bed and started making his way towards the adjoining bathroom. He walked over to her side of the bed and lifted her up and effortlessly slung her body over his shoulder. Bulma squealed in surprise as he wrapped his arm over her body that was draped over his shoulder.

“You really need a shower too,” he smirked as she half giggled and half hit her balled up fists against his back, wincing as she forgot about her wrist, as he dragged her into the bathroom with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all again for your kind words and kudos! Ya'll are the best <3 Please let me know if you enjoyed the chapter. Sorry that you'll have to wait for the next update for a lemon, I got long winded and carried away with this chapter and I didn't want it to be too long. Good things come to those who wait XD
> 
> xx  
> Mawr Blaidd Drwg


	5. Construct

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note the rating of the story for the beginning part of the chapter, a lemon as promised! Also theres a little bit of violence in the flashbacks so just be warned.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> xx  
> Mawr Blaidd Drwg

Vegeta carried Bulma into the adjoining bathroom of her bedroom, still slung over his shoulder. He placed her down onto her feet and slid the glass shower door open to turn the nob for the shower to start. Bulma pulled her tank top up over her head, tossed it on the floor and kicked off her pajama shorts to the ground while Vegeta pulled off the leggings part of his armor that he still wore. She grabbed the plastic wrap from the bathroom vanity to put around the brace to prevent it from getting wet in the shower and realized Vegeta was watching her as she put it on with an expression she couldn’t quite read.

Bulma walked around him and put her hand under the water to feel for the temperature, before she stepped into the walk in shower. She turned the dial to make the temperature much warmer, letting the hot water saturate her blue hair, making it several shades darker. She ran her fingers through her hair, closing her eyes and sighing as the hot water warmed her skin. She felt Vegeta step into the shower and heard the glass door slide shut and couldn’t help the small smile on her face. Steam filled the shower quickly from the hot temperature and filled her lungs as she took a breath in.

“Do you usually bathe in the springs of hell? Why do you have the temperature so hot?” Vegeta asked as he felt the scalding hot water as some of it splashed onto him. It felt like he was back in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. How was her weak human skin able to tolerate it if it felt hot even to him?

Bulma laughed, “I like really hot showers! It feels nice,” she shrugged as she turned the dial that controlled the temperature downwards to cool it down. She stepped out of the stream of water so that Vegeta could move underneath of it, and squeezed some body soap onto her hands.

The much cooler water hit Vegeta’s body and pushed his flamed hair downward pointing towards his back. He felt his eyes close as the water drenched his body. Bulma had been right; he did need a shower. He ran his hands over his face and through his hair, feeling somewhat relieved. He opened his eyes to watch Bulma as she lathered the soap onto her skin, following her hands as they slid across her wet naked body wishing they were his hands instead. He had to admit, there were definitely advantages to staying in her room, and watching her shower while joining her was definitely climbing up to the top of that list.

Her hands slid down her arms and then back up again before she bent down and caressed the soap up and down her legs as well. She stood back upright and massaged the soap across her breasts. She met Vegeta’s eyes, which had darkened as he watched her from underneath of the shower stream, the hungry expression on his face hitting her between her thighs. Her own eyes took him in as he stood underneath the water before her and she didn’t know if she would ever get used to seeing Vegeta naked especially watching water dripping down his perfectly sculpted body. It took a great deal of self-control on her part to not just jump on top of him.

She walked around him, slightly brushing her wet body against his as she moved to face his back so that she was able to get underneath of the water and rinse the soap from her body. He squeezed some of the soap onto his hands and began lathering the soap across his body, as he did so, he felt her hands that had more soap on them now sliding across his back and shoulders. Her hands roamed from his back and shoulders down his ass and legs and then back up. Her hands then moved from his neck and over his shoulders to his chest. He turned around so that he could face her, and her hands rested on his chest, the shower stream pouring down between them, and washing away some of the soap on his chest.

Vegeta’s hands moved slowly, painfully slowly across her pale arms, dragging some soap left over on his hands in their wake. She felt her eyes fluttering closed as his warm fingertips dragged against her collarbone and dipped down grasping at her hardening nipples. One of his hands slid down further grabbing at her ass and moving to her front before slowly pressing against her entrance. Her own hands slid down from his chest across the muscles of his abdomen tracing the v that the muscles of his hips made. Her hand slipped down to his hardened length, gripping the base as she slid her hand down to the head. His lips crushed against hers as he slammed her against the cold tile of the shower.

His tongue sliding against hers muffled the moan that got caught in her throat as his body pressed against her and he slid a finger inside of her. Bulma’s arms wrapped automatically around his neck as she pressed her breasts against his chest and deepened the kiss between them. He lifted her body up with his other arm, leveraging her against the shower tile, before he replaced his finger with his cock as he slid inside of her. Her legs wrapped tightly around him as she took him all in at once, moaning against his lips.

He groaned breaking the kiss and touching his forehead against the cold tile before he slid himself almost completely out of her and then thrust back into her. Her fingers tangled into his wet hair as she cried out against him, the warm water from the shower rushing against their entangled bodies. Vegeta found a rhythm in his thrusts as his hand reached to turn the shower water colder against them. Bulma gasped at the shock of the cold water coupled with the sensation of him slamming in and out of her. Her nipples hardened from the temperature and his hand that had turned the temperature dial fell between them and pressed against her clit in circular motions.

Bulma’s release came even quicker than usual and Vegeta smirked as she cried out his name and threw her head back against the tile. She braced herself against him, feeling her body becoming limp from her intense orgasm. His thrusts became more and more erratic before he came deep inside of her, cracking several of the tiles underneath of his fists that punched against it from his release.

Bulma found her breath finally and Vegeta pulled himself out of her, slowly helping her back to her feet. She braced herself against his arms trying to find her balance in her dizzy state. She winced as her sore wrist pressed against his arm. He regarded the plastic covering the brace tenderly for a moment and Bulma leaned in and kissed him.

After they had finished showering, Bulma wrapped a towel around her body and began brushing her teeth, wiping away the steam from the mirror so that she could see their reflections. Vegeta dried his lower body with a towel, and tied it around his waist before he picked up the spare toothbrush that Bulma had left for him in here to use.

“So I have an idea to help solve the sleeping arrangement problem,” Bulma said after she finished brushing and spit the rest of her toothpaste from her mouth into the sink.

Vegeta tensed as he put the spare toothbrush down, hoping she would have let the whole situation go after everything that happened so that he could just return to sleeping in his own bed. How could she possibly want him to sleep next to her and risk him potentially hurting her again?

“I know, I know you don’t want what happened to happen again,” Bulma said silencing his inner thoughts that apparently she could hear. “I was thinking that I could build some sort of security device that I could easily activate so that way if you were to start having a really bad nightmare, it could safely wake you up or even tranquilize you without putting me in harm’s way.”

Vegeta folded his arms across his bare chest that was still damp from their shower.

“I could re-develop an entire wing of Capsule Corp to make a new bedroom, walk-in closets and an en suite bathroom rather than us staying in my room. It would be new territory for both of us,” she explained. “It would be _our_ room instead.”

Vegeta frowned at their reflections in the bathroom vanity mirror that were clouded in misted condensation. Bulma looked back at him hopefully. How had he gotten to this point? Discussing building an entire wing of Capsule Corp that would be theirs instead of only hers. What was even stranger and more unsettling was how he didn’t completely dislike the idea. The ends of her blue hair were darker than the rest of her hair where water still gathered and dripped onto her pale shoulders in a way that made him want to catch the water.

Bulma noticed the trepidation in Vegeta’s frown. She was slowly but surely becoming an expert at deciphering Vegeta’s frowns and their many variations and meanings. Sometimes it meant he was annoyed, other times, perplexed. In this case his eyebrow twitched with almost anxiety. She remembered how gently he had been inspecting her wrist earlier and how it melted her heart seeing him show remorse and such care.

“And if you’re more comfortable with it, then you can sleep in your own bed until I have the security device set up,” Bulma added.

“Alright,” Vegeta finally begrudgingly agreed.

Bulma smiled at their reflections. This was certainly a pretty big step for them to officially “move in” together even though he had been living here for years. This somehow felt different and more substantial than just convincing him to sleep in her bed after having sex. This meant all of his stuff (though he didn’t have much of it) and all of her stuff mingled together in one living space. She couldn’t help but take a moment to pause and appreciate the moment between them, even if Vegeta didn’t realize how big of a deal it actually was.

“Okay, well good night then I guess,” Bulma said with a little bit of sadness coating her words and softening the happy glow on her face. She felt somewhat childish being upset that Vegeta wouldn’t be sleeping in her bed. If only she could have seen herself now in her current situation a year ago. She would have never believed Vegeta would have agreed to any of this, let alone thinking she would be upset that he wouldn’t be sleeping in her bed until the construction was complete.

Vegeta grunted at her and secured the towel around his waist to make his way back to his own bedroom. Before he could leave the bathroom, she quickly leaned over and kissed his cheek before sneaking past him to her bed. Vegeta’s cheek twitched where she had kissed him as he left the room with a slight blush creeping up his face. He still got uncomfortable when she would randomly kiss his cheek or show such outward affection like that out of nowhere. It was something he didn’t think he would ever get used to.

Vegeta walked into his old room happy to be able to finally get a good night’s rest. Although, the room felt strange as he walked in. As though it wasn’t even really his anymore, or that it never was in the first place perhaps. He threw his towel in the hamper, put on a pair of shorts and climbed into bed sighing in relief. He wouldn’t have to deal with her punching or kicking, or making weird noises. He wasn’t sleeping out on the grass as he had for nearly a week either, which felt more like meditating instead of sleeping anyhow. He would finally be in a comfortable, quiet bed. Completely alone, as he always preferred. He laid on his side and closed his eyes almost smiling in relief.

And then sleep didn’t come.

The room was quiet, _too_ quiet. He pushed the thought away. Since when was it _too_ quiet? He **loved** the quiet! Sleep would naturally come soon. He focused on his breathing like he usually did to help himself sleep. He breathed in deeply and slowly, and released it just as slowly. He lifted up his hand to grab Bulma’s incoming fist only to remember that she wasn’t there. He realized, in absolute horror, that he had grown used to Bulma sleeping next to him. He opened his eyes and glared at the wall in annoyance wondering how he went from a proud and ruthless warrior who would sleep soundly after destroying civilizations, to someone who apparently couldn’t sleep without his annoying woman beside him. But who also couldn’t really sleep next to her either. He clenched his fists and growled out loud in irritation. How did he allow this to happen?

After several hours of tossing and turning Vegeta finally faded into the empty solitude of sleep, falling headfirst into another flashback.

_Vegeta sat on one of the rocks jutting out from the edge of the cliff. The planet had a strange pink and purple gradient sky that put him on edge. The pink and purple blended together amicably but something seemed off. He stared down from the edge of the cliff to the crater that had been made from all of the destruction he and Radditz had caused. It had been one of the better fights he had lately. On most of the planets that Frieza wanted them to take over, the beings that occupied it acquiesced rather too easily. Not today. He had a proper fight rather than just a slaughter, which felt good; it was something to actually take pride in. Radditz had gone off to ensure that there were no survivors from their battle while Vegeta stayed behind to report back to Frieza about their success._

_Maybe if he continued to get the job done then Frieza would allow him to go back home instead of all of this mindless traveling. He hadn’t seen his father in a long time, hadn’t even heard from him in fact and Frieza never allowed any sort of communication unless he was present for it anyhow. At least he had been following orders just like his father had told him to so that should mean that his kingdom was safe._

_He turned the turquoise fruit that was apparently native to this planet in his hand. It was one of the reasons that Frieza wanted the planet to be taken over and sold in the first place. This particular fruit was incredibly rare and sold for an absurdly high market value price throughout the universe. He didn’t see what the big deal was; it was just a fruit. But he had learned to not ask questions anymore._

_Vegeta peeled the turquoise shell off of it to reveal a strange black pulp inside. It didn’t seem appealing at all to eat, but after engaging in battle all day he was pretty hungry. He would send a message to Frieza after he ate something. Just as he was about to bite into it, his scouter went off._

_“Prince Vegeta, there is news,” he heard Frieza’s slimy voice on the other end of the scouter._

_“Planet Urthra has been taken,” Vegeta confirmed automatically._

_“Yes, I heard. That’s not what I am calling about. It seems as though there was some sort of asteroid that hit Planet Vegeta,” Frieza said._

_“So?”_

_“So… there’s nothing left. The entire planet is gone including all that inhabited it. The only Saiyan monkeys left are you, Nappa and Radditz,” Frieza said nonchalantly as though he were discussing the weather and not the end of Vegeta’s entire home planet and species._

_“My father?” Vegeta asked blankly._

_There was a long pause._

_“Unfortunately it seems as though he was on the planet when the asteroid hit,” Frieza said without an ounce of empathy in his words._

_“Well, if you’ve finished with Urthtra, Dodoria will be assigning your next mission, be sure to cue Radditz in,” Frieza added before hanging up._

_Vegeta stared into the purple and pink sky noticing that the pink was turning into a deep red as the sun was fading off into the distance. He took the scouter off of his head and crushed it into his hand. The pieces of the metal and glass material broke into shards that cut through his white gloves and dug into his hand. Vegeta welcomed the pain that it brought. He tossed the pieces off of the cliff watching them scatter into the crater. All of this work he had done. All of this blood on his hands. All for what? His planet was gone. His father dead. His people killed, not in some glorious battle but instead by a giant rock. His heart thudded dully in his chest like a broken tree branch that fluttered in the wind but never fully snapped off from the tree. He clenched his fist tighter, feeling the glass shards that had been left in his skin and sinking deeply into his hand, slicing into nerve endings._

_Prince Vegeta. Prince of nothing. Prince of no one._

_Vegeta bit into the strange black flesh of the fruit. It didn’t taste good at all; it tasted sour and bitter all at once and left an ashy aftertaste in his mouth._

Vegeta woke, not in the middle of yelling as he had the night he broke Bulma’s wrist, but rather his eyes shot open, his body in a cold sweat. His hand shook and his fingers touched the palm of his hand where the scars were from pieces of the scouter that he had torn apart. He touched the indented line slightly calloused from time giving him the illusion of comfort.

~*~

“Well, which blue do you like?” Bulma asked as she showed Vegeta the board with the different paint swatches on it.

Vegeta stared at the board with 6 blue boxes that looked almost identical to him. He looked back at her, seeing the expecting look on her face as she waited for his response. He looked back down at the board. “Is this some sort of trick?” he muttered.

“What do you mean?” Bulma said as she frowned in confusion. She had been trying to get Vegeta to agree to a color for their bedroom that was almost complete. The painters needed to paint the bedroom, and finish tiling the bathroom and then they would be able to move their brand new furniture in. After nearly 20 minutes of “ _why does the color of the wall matter at all this is ridiculous,_ ” he had agreed to blue. Today, she gave him different options and now she was trying to get him to decide which specific blue he liked. She only had a few minutes before Trunks would likely be waking up from his nap to get a final decision made.

“The boxes are identical,” he said as he gestured to the board in front of them as though she were insane for not noticing.

“They are so _not_ identical! Look, that one has more gray in it, and that one definitely has more yellow in it!” she argued as she pointed out just how different each box was.

“They are the same color!” Vegeta said his voice rising in irritation. He had not been sleeping well, his nightmares had been at an all time high and Bulma had powered down the gravity chamber in the middle of his training to ask him which of the identical boxes he preferred and he felt his already tiny fragment of patience disappearing.

“Are you blind? No they aren’t!” Bulma shouted back. She didn’t like his attitude today especially after all of her hard work trying to put together this brand new wing of Capsule Corp. He had been snippy with her the last 2 weeks and she didn’t know why. He had been locking himself into the gravity chamber longer and longer each day and she felt like she had barely seen him lately as she found herself falling asleep earlier than usual at night from the stress of everything making her feel tired. Her patience was growing thin, dealing with all of the different contractors while trying to take care of Trunks and her current workload for Capsule Corp. She was feeling the tension of all of it and all she wanted to do was get the construction done so that they could enjoy their new shared-space together.

“Pick whatever blasted box you want, I don’t care! This is all meaningless nonsense!” he yelled before storming back into the ship, slamming the door behind him. She heard the gravity simulation humming with life.

“Oh no you don’t!” Bulma shouted before walking around to the outdoor control panel and overriding the controls of the gravity chamber immediately shutting it down.

“TURN THE FUCKING MACHINE BACK ON,” she heard his muffled scream behind the closed door of the chamber.

“I will when you stop being such an asshole! So don’t hold your breath!” she shouted back at him.

“Fine! I’ll go train somewhere else then! I don’t need this stupid gravity simulation anyhow, and I don’t need to hear your annoying shrieking over menial colors,” he yelled as he threw the door open and stormed out. His frown was twisted into an anger that she had not seen for so long, that it actually took her by surprise for a moment. This wasn’t just a normal bickering match between them. She didn’t know what his problem was but she suspected it was over more than just paint swatches and training. Vegeta hadn’t suddenly changed into a pleasant, happy person since their agreement, but he also hadn’t been the same intensely rage fueled person either. Based on his reaction and current expression she knew it was best to just give him his space right now, and annoy him later once he calmed down.

Bulma folded her arms over her chest, momentarily forgetting about her sore wrist and hitting it against her other arm, wincing in pain. She hadn’t realized just how often she crossed her arms until she had broken her wrist.

Vegeta paused before snapping over his shoulder, “I will be training and I won’t be back until tonight.”

He immediately took to the sky and disappeared, with such ferocity, it caused a shift of wind to blow her hair backwards and then into her face.

Even in her irritation Bulma realized that Vegeta had stopped to tell her that he would be training and what his timeline would be rather than just storming away and disappearing without a word. And she couldn’t help but feel her heart flutter at the realization that he had remembered what she had said about communicating if he needed space, even when he appeared as though he was going to blow up the Earth in anger.

~*~

Bulma lay wide-awake in her bed. She heard Vegeta come home and storm into his own room, which is where he had been staying while they waited for the construction of the wing of Capsule Corp. He hadn’t come to see her first, which she hadn’t been surprised about given their argument early today and he probably assumed she was sleeping since she had been falling asleep earlier the last 2 weeks. He had kept his word and came back and she thought that would be enough to help her fall asleep, but it wasn’t. She tossed and turned for a few hours unable to shake off a sour feeling in her gut, before sudden shouting alerted her. She checked Trunks’ baby monitor, though he was still fast asleep.

She knew it had to be Vegeta. It must be the nightmares or flashbacks again. She had been falling asleep in exhaustion the last 2 weeks so she didn’t know if his nightmares were a daily occurrence or if this was the first one since he was in her bed. She made her way to his bedroom and as she stood behind his closed door, she could hear his muffled, unintelligible yelling. Her heart sank before she knocked on the door and called for him, hoping it would wake him, but the yelling continued as though he hadn’t heard her at all. She opened the door and saw Vegeta tossing and turning as he had done the night he accidentally broke her wrist.

_Vegeta’s fingernails dug into the rocky terrain beneath him. He felt several nails rip off from his fingertips as he attempted to drag his body forward. His legs had been broken apart by the blast. This was meant to be an easy mission. A passive, miniscule planet with a rare type of rock that could be harvested into a precious metal that was said to be nearly indestructible. Frieza wanted to mine the rock on this planet and develop factories for it to be harvested and mass-produced to make a fortune. Vegeta had gone alone on this mission though he was supposed to go with back-up just in case of any issues. There was a very small population on the planet, easy to dispose of, and he craved the solitude. Radditz and Nappa had been going off trying to find females and Vegeta had no such plans, no matter how much they ridiculed him for it._

_He had not anticipated that the passive, miniscule planet would have land mines planted for security purposes in the regions where the rock was encased. They had gone completely undetected from his scouter and now he was trying to crawl his way back to the ship, bones cracked and were sticking out from the flesh in his legs. One of the rocks, had been embedded into his thigh, jutting outward through his flesh. He lay there for what felt like hours, nodding in and out of consciousness as the blood loss and pain were catching up to him. He felt cold flood his entire body as sweat rolled down his face. He had alerted the scouter that he required back up, but he had not heard from anyone else yet._

_Maybe he wouldn’t survive. He felt himself sink into darkness. Survival was all that he had to cling to, it was all he had for so long and he felt it slowly slipping away from him. He wasn’t sure how long he had been unconscious for. Hours? Days?_

_He woke violently from the quiet darkness to something snapping into his already shattered legs. Frieza’s voice shuddered through him._

_“Tsk, tsk. Not only did you not succeed in your mission but now the Cartulians have managed to escape with most, if not all of their stash of helmonite,” Frieza said calmly as he put all of his weight on his foot that stepped directly onto Vegeta’s splintered shin._

_Vegeta screamed out from the pain, unable to swallow it down no matter how much he wanted to. He hated to show any sort of weakness, but especially in front of Frieza. His legs were already fucked and now he may never be able to walk again after this. Freiza’s foot snapped the ankle of his other leg and Vegeta felt his finger break as he slammed his fist into the ground._

_“You’ve cost me a great deal of money with your stupidity,” Freiza snapped. “You should not have entered this mission solo. The mission details clearly stated that.”_

_Frieza pulled the helmonite that had been impaled through Vegeta’s thigh out and Vegeta felt his body going into shock and consciousness began to slip through his fingers once again. A reprieve from this horrible nightmare._

_“Throw him in the rejuvenation tank, if he survives we’ll figure out the necessary disciplinary action for his insubordination. See if you can find anymore of the helmonite that may have been left on the planet,” Frieza instructed Zarbon before tossing him the piece that he had ripped from Vegeta’s leg._

_“Yes, Lord Frieza,” Zarbon responded as he dragged Vegeta by his hair towards Freiza’s ship, Vegeta fell limply behind him and began falling away from this dreadful place and into darkness._

He sat up in bed, gasping for air as if he had been submerged in water for so long that he forgot how to breathe. His hands twisted into the bed sheets beneath him and he tried to ground himself back into reality. His legs were fine, long since healed. He moved his toes and legs around to remind himself of this. Though he could still feel the pain, still hear the snap of his ankle echoing in the room. He wasn’t on that horrific planet, he wasn’t working in Frieza’s force. He clenched and unclenched his fingers and brought them to his face, wiping away the sweat that had collected there.

“Vegeta?” Bulma asked cautiously, unsure of what sort of state he was in or what she was waking into.

He flinched upon hearing her voice, realizing that he hadn’t even picked up on her ki because he had been so distracted with trying to bring himself back to reality. He made eye contact with her in the darkened room. She was standing in his doorway in her pajamas staring at him with concern. He took a deep, wavering breath in before releasing it.

Bulma saw Vegeta blink and return to his eyes. She shut his bedroom door behind her and carefully made her way to his bed. He was trembling violently and it broke her into two to see him in such a state. She couldn’t even imagine the sort of nightmares he must be having, or how awful the flashbacks must be. She wished that she could say something, or do something to help but she didn’t even know where to start. He didn’t want to talk about it last time they discussed this and she didn’t want to push the matter and make him uncomfortable.

She climbed into bed beside him, scooting herself backward so that she was placed somewhat behind him, facing towards his back. Bulma gently and slowly traced the muscles and scars on his back with her fingers. His entire body tensed up at first like an unyielding knot, but slowly he relaxed his body after a few minutes of her continuing her gentle strokes across his back. It was helping ground him in the present instead of being ripped back into the past. He felt his eyes closing at her touch, though the trembling never dissipated.

“I’m still annoyed with you, you know,” Bulma murmured softly, breaking the silence that clung to the air in his bedroom.

“I’d be shocked if you weren’t,” he mumbled back, his voice slightly hoarse.

“I’m guessing it wasn’t just the paint swatches that got you so angry then?” she asked carefully.

She felt his back rise and fall in an annoyed sigh against her touch. “The colors _were_ identical. You didn’t need to interrupt my training for such a ridiculous question.”

Bulma felt herself starting to laugh in spite of herself. “Okay, I’ll admit they were pretty similar. I really wasn’t trying to annoy you, I just wanted to get your opinion and your input because I want the bedroom wing to be just as much yours as it is mine, I want you to feel at home there,” Bulma explained as she brought her hands to rest on his shoulders and she felt Vegeta immediately tense back into the unyielding knot.

There was that awful word. _Home_. It was like a curse word that children were hushed from saying. Vegeta felt his stomach churn and felt himself grasping to stop from falling back into a flashback. He didn’t even remember what it was like to have a home. An actual home, a place he _belonged_.

Home was such a foreign concept to him. He had been young when Frieza destroyed his planet, though for a while he thought an asteroid had been what caused its ultimate demise. He learned very young not to get attached to places, seeing how ephemeral they were and how easily they were disposed, considering that was his job for quite a while. Taking peoples homes away from them. He spent most of his life traveling from planet to planet employed and owned by Frieza to collect universal real estate because there weren’t any other options for him, he couldn’t escape it. He also happened to be really good at it. He couldn’t fight Frieza then, knowing it would be futile and end in defeat so he was caught in a constant state of motion and planet hopping. He didn’t have the luxury of finding a place to rest and relax or “ _feel at home._ ” Earth was meant to be a stopping off point until he ascended and defeated Kakarot and the Androids. But now he had chosen to remain here for Bulma and for Trunks. Did that make the Earth his home? Or just the place he would stay to live out the rest of his life?

Bulma’s thumbs made small circles against his shoulders and brought him back to this moment. “Is it the nightmares again or something else?” Bulma asked after a long period of silence.

“I haven’t had a _home_ … in a very long time,” he finally said staring ahead in the dark bedroom.

Bulma frowned not understanding his meaning. He had been staying at Capsule Corp for well over 4 years now including the time that the Namekians were here, and the times he left for space. She had gone out of her way to make sure he had all amenities he would need including the gravity chamber and an absurd amount of food. She had done all of this before they were even entered into a physical relationship together and certainly well before their commitment to one another.

“I mean in the sense of a place that I associate with home, not just a place I stay in or live. Not since my planet was destroyed when I was a child,” he clarified after feeling her ki spiking.

Bulma understood what he meant now. _Of course_ , that made sense and she felt her heart sink at hearing him say this. She couldn’t begin to imagine what it must feel like for him, as she had always had her home, family and friends to rely on and come back to. He had never had that luxury. No wonder he had been so angry today and didn’t care about paint colors. In his own way he was probably scared of the idea of feeling at home somewhere because any sense of home had been ripped away from him so easily.

“Well, maybe one day Earth could be that place for you… no matter how much you claim to hate it. But also know that the idea of home doesn’t necessarily have to be a place. It can just be a sort of sense or feeling that you have,” Bulma said as she leaned her chin onto her hands that were resting on his shoulder.

Vegeta clenched his jaw not knowing how to respond. He knew that she was trying to help him feel better but Bulma could never understand where he was coming from, nor would he ever want her to have to feel the way that he felt. He didn’t know how to explain this to her and he didn’t have the energy to begin to try. He suddenly felt so tired. In a way he had not felt since he had been back in his own bed, wide-eyed and staring at the ceiling wishing for sleep. He felt that he could sleep for an entire day.

He started to lean back ever so slightly lifting up Bulma’s hands from his shoulder, being mindful of the brace on her wrist that made his gut clench every time he saw it. He laid down on the bed putting his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling.

Bulma paused for a moment considering giving him his space and leaving the room so that he could try to go back to sleep. But then she thought of the look on his face when he talked about how he didn’t have a home and decided she was staying here, whether he liked it or not. She reclined down next to him, rolling onto her side so that she could face him. He seemed to be deep in thought, but also didn’t argue with her about leaving so she took that as an invitation to stay. She had missed him sleeping beside her the last two weeks and she figured since he already had a horrible nightmare or flashback that she wouldn’t be any danger tonight.

His eyelids became heavier and heavier and started to close in the darkened room. Bulma quietly scooted herself closer to him so that she was curled up against his side. She gently touched his chest and rubbed mindless circles into his warm muscles as she felt his breathing become more and more relaxed, though a slight tremor still vibrated through him. An aftershock from the flashbacks. His breathing became even and balanced and she suspected that he had already fallen asleep.

“Good night,” she whispered as she laid her arm brace laden wrist across his abdomen and leaned her head against his chest. His heartbeat was faster than hers, even in his unconscious state she realized. She listened to the sound it made and the song it created as it mixed with the sound of her own pulse tapping away at a much slower rate.

When Vegeta woke in the morning, Bulma was tangled around him like a vine growing on a brick wall. Her arm was curled around his abdomen, her face pressed against his chest, and her leg draped over his. His first instinct, of course, was to immediately untangle her away from him. When they had shared a bed, there was always a foot between them for sleeping, otherwise he would never allow it. How had he been able to fall asleep and stay asleep with her entwined to him like this? How had she not punched him in the face or kicked him? He realized then, in complete shock, that one of his arms was wrapped tightly around her while the other was still tucked under his head. Had she tranquilized him somehow?

As he tried to slowly move his arm away from her, her arm around his abdomen tightened while she stirred slightly in her sleep. He slipped out of her grasp, placing a pillow down where his body had been underneath of her. He didn’t want her to wake and see them in such a position and then expect that would be how they would sleep from here on out because that certainly would _not_ be happening again.

He realized then, that he had finally slept without being interrupted by a flashback the first time since they had started back up again. He also realized that he had not hurt her at all either. He stared down at her sleeping so soundly in his bed, his frown softening ever so slightly.

~*~

“Stop it, right now,” Vegeta commanded through gritted teeth, as he flared his ki even more than the first time he had told him to stop a moment ago.

Trunks apparently seemed to think he was asking him to do quite the opposite and instead his cries turned into violent shrieks like nails on a chalkboard.

“Vegeta! I’ve been gone for 3 minutes what did you do to him?” Bulma cried as she walked back into the kitchen with the delivery order. She placed the giant bags filled with sushi onto the table and went over to Trunks who was writhing in his high chair screaming.

Vegeta frowned, not understanding why Trunks wasn’t listening to his commands. “I didn’t do anything. He started his childish whining and I told him to stop like I usually do and it just continued to get worse. There’s something wrong with him, his ki is all twisted up.”

“He’s teething, Vegeta. He’s probably just in a lot of pain,” Bulma said loudly over Trunks’ shrieks as she tried to pick him up out of his high chair. Trunks balled up his fists and pushed against his mother’s chest as the screams continued to get louder and louder. He arched his back and kicked against her chest trying to get out of her grasp. He had been teething since his birthday but the last couple of days it had gotten so much worse. The doctor said his teeth development was slower than average so she didn’t know if that had anything to do with it, or if that was typical for Saiyans, but he hadn’t reacted this dramatically before.

Vegeta thought his head was going to explode. How was it physically possible for something so small to make such loud noises? “Teething?” he shouted over the screaming.

“Yes, his teeth are pushing through his gums. Most of his teeth have already broken through but there’s a few that are still developing. It feels like he has a fever too, poor baby,” Bulma said loudly as she tried to wrangle Trunks who was twisting himself out of her grasp.

“Take him for a minute,” Bulma commanded before handing him to Vegeta and rummaged through the freezer for his teething toy before going through the cabinet for medicine.

Vegeta didn’t even get the chance to protest as Bulma practically threw him at Vegeta who had no choice but to hold him outward at arms length as though he were a bomb about to explode and not just a child. He thought his ears would start bleeding from the violent sounds coming out of the kid’s mouth. He hadn’t held Trunks since the night he met him and he stared at his son in confusion.

Bulma finally returned and put a spoonful of medicine in Trunks’ wide opened mouth and then pushed the ice-cold toy against his gums. Trunks grabbed the plastic toy with his chubby fist and began gnawing at it, silencing his cries to soft whimpers.

“There is that better honey?” Bulma cooed at Trunks who continued to gnaw on the toy as the remainder of his fat tears fell freely down his face.

Vegeta handed him back off to Bulma who was now rocking him back and forth in her arms. This seemed to make Trunks more comfortable and the ringing in Vegeta’s ears was finally starting to die down.

“You’ve taken all precautions to stop another one of those from happening, right?” Vegeta stated in horror while pointing at Trunks.

“You mean his teething? There’s not much I can do about that, Vegeta. Well all develop teeth in this way and it’s painful. Just a part of life,” she said exasperated.

“No I mean to stop from having another child,” he said as he started to rummage through the delivery bags.

“I’m pretty sure I have. I’m on the strongest and most effective form of birth control right now other than just not having sex,” Bulma said honestly. “Although, I could ask Chi-Chi what she did because they only ended up having Gohan.”

Vegeta grimaced thinking about Kakarot and his mate and offspring. Bulma laughed at the look on Vegeta’s face. “Trust me, I don’t really want to think about that either, nor do I really want to ask her about it, but she’s the only other person who can understand my current situation.”

Trunks’ screams still echoed in Vegeta’s eardrums and he nodded in agreement before tearing into a plate of sushi.

~*~

“Hi Chi-Chi how have you been doing?” Bulma asked as she leaned the phone on her shoulder and started rummaging through her lab looking for the specific capsule that she had misplaced. For some reason, she always needed to be doing something when making a phone call and couldn’t manage to just sit still. Especially knowing the awkward conversation that was soon to commence.

“Oh, well you know,” Chi-Chi said rather absently.

Bulma bit her lip feeling guilty for not having called her sooner, especially with Goku being dead and her raising Gohan all on her own. She thought of how selfishly she had been being so caught up with Vegeta and Trunks and getting construction all completed. She immediately felt bad for not being a more supportive friend. And here she was calling to ask a selfish question instead of just calling to check-in on her.

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Bulma asked quietly.

“No, no it’s okay. I’m doing fine,” Chi-Chi said. “What’s up with you?”

“Not much, just finishing up some projects and what not, Trunks is getting bigger every minute. I feel like I blinked and he’s already apparently old enough to be training according to Vegeta,” Bulma replied.

“Right,” Chi-Chi said distractedly.

Now Bulma knew that there was definitely something wrong because normally Chi-Chi would have blow out her phone speaker with screeching over hearing about such a young child training. But she didn’t seem to even notice what Bulma had said.

“Well, I was also calling to ask you a rather, um… personal question,” Bulma said feeling herself blush ever so slightly as she distractedly rummaged through another desk drawer in search of the missing capsule.

“Okay…” Chi-Chi said hesitantly.

“Um, do you-I mean _did_ you use any sort of birth control? You’ve only had Gohan so I was curious what sort of method you used to not have more children. I was on the pill when I got pregnant with Trunks, so I’m on an IUD now but I also want to make sure I’m taking as many precautions as possible. I’m just curious, because you’re the only other person who has dealt with a Saiyan before, if there was anything else that you would recommend, or what has worked for you. Because things are going well with Vegeta and we don’t want to have another baby right now” Bulma said in one breath as quickly as humanly possible.

There was a long period of silence, so long that Bulma wondered if Chi-Chi had either not heard her, or possibly hung up on her, not that she would have blamed her. The silence was interrupted with a sudden burst of laughter.

Bulma felt her blush deepen. This had been a bad idea. But Vegeta had been the one to bring it up after all. She couldn’t exactly ask her OB-GYN the best methods for preventing half-Saiyan pregnancies.

“I-I’m sorry this was a bad idea to ask you this with everything you’re going through,” Bulma said miserably. “I’m so sorry for not being more mindful.”

“No! That’s not why I’m laughing,” Chi-Chi said, finally coming up for air before her laughter suddenly turned to crying.

Bulma felt terrible. She had been so selfish in calling Chi-Chi to ask about this when obviously losing Goku was still so fresh in her mind. Bulma inwardly slapped her own forehead. How would she be feeling if it was Vegeta who had died? Her stomach turned even thinking it.

“Well, you’ll find out soon enough I suppose. I’m pregnant,” she said between sniffles. “We had been trying again before… well before this whole mess happened. I didn’t think I was pregnant but then here I am.”

“Oh wow! Congratulations, Chi-Chi!” Bulma said not sure if her words sounded happy or filled with dread. Was she supposed to be excited? Or sad? Or neutral?

“Thank you,” Chi-Chi said her sniffles fading away. “It feels good to finally tell someone. Though Gohan suspects that I’ve just really gone off the deep end with my mood swings,” she said in amusement. “I’m happy, I really am. But it’s not going to be the same without Goku here.”

Bulma felt her heart break for her friend. She couldn’t even imagine the onslaught of conflicting feelings she must be going through.

“And to answer your question, I didn’t take any sort of birth control but I did track my ovulation cycle. Also, avoid the full moon. Gohan and this baby I believe were both conceived during the full moon,” she said with caution. “Though who knows, that could just be a coincidence.”

“Okay, full moon. Gotcha,” Bulma said. “I know this is not what you originally planned or had in mind, but I’m here if you need anything. I know first hand how absolutely miserable being pregnant with a half-Saiyan baby can be so I’m here for you with whatever you need.”

“Thanks, Bulma I appreciate that,” she said thankfully.

“Maybe we can get together for some tea or lunch or something soon,” Bulma suggested.

“That sounds great, let’s touch base once the morning sickness starts to die down a little bit,” Chi-Chi replied.

“Of course, boy do I remember how awful that was. Actually, I’m going to send you a case of peppermint tea and some ginger candies right now. I hope you feel better soon!”

“Thanks, Bulma, bye!”

“Bye,” Bulma said before hanging up the phone.

As much as the idea of being pregnant again made her want to scream she had to admit the thought of having another child had crossed her mind. She remembered Vegeta’s reaction when he realized she was pregnant with Trunks and immediately put that notion out of her mind. Right now everything was going well between them, she wasn’t even going to think about throwing a wrench into that by bringing up having a baby, especially when Vegeta vocalized how he wanted to prevent another one from happening. She didn’t even think she wanted one right now anyway. She was probably just getting overly emotional thinking of how quickly Trunks was growing.

~*~

“I haven’t eaten since breakfast,” Vegeta snapped as he crossed his arms over his chest. He had just finished training for the day and when he entered the kitchen expecting to see Bulma and Trunks and a table full of food he was instead greeted by an overly excited Bulma and absolutely no food in sight.

“There is delicious food upstairs, I promise. Now, stop complaining,” Bulma said as she half dragged Vegeta upstairs to their newly completed bedroom suite. She had been waiting all day to finally get to show him and wanted to make it special by having a nice dinner in their new room together. Her mom was even watching Trunks for the night. She knew Vegeta would likely complain so she made sure to order delicious take-out food to soften his irritation, as he didn’t like deviations in his schedule. She also knew that Vegeta wouldn’t be all that excited about their new room, he thought it was all ridiculous, but she still wanted to make the occasion of them officially moving into a shared-space together special, even if it really was for her own sake.

“Are you ready?” Bulma asked excitedly.

“If you don’t open the doors to food, I will blast my way through,” Vegeta grumbled as his frown intensified.

“You’re not eating until I give you the grand tour anyhow,” Bulma rolled her eyes at Vegeta before opening the sliding double doors to the bedroom. She walked in first and Vegeta followed her into the room. The walls had been painted a deep blue with soft gray marble tiled floors and the majority of the room was covered in an oversized rug with soft thick fur-like material. There was an incredibly large bed in the middle of the room with small tables on each end as well as a long fabric covered bench at the end of the bed. A seating area was placed neatly in front of curtain covered glass doors that had 2 large upholstered chairs with thick arm rests and a table between them, which is where the food was located. There were gold and white accents throughout the room with sturdy clean lines all throughout. If Vegeta actually cared about interior design then he would have been impressed with everything in front of him. Though even he had to admit that the room looked appealing.

“The security feature is activated by hitting the switch here by my side of the bed, they are also voice activated if necessary,” Bulma explained as she touched the light switch and several laser targets appeared on the bed. The targets disappeared when she adjusted the light switch again. “Here let me show you the bathroom and your closet,” she said.

In the closet were shelves stocked up with regular clothing, training gear and armor suits to last about a year. It was big enough for him to walk into, and easily walk around in. The bathroom was about three times the size of the bathroom he had joined with his previous room and included a walk in shower with dual rain showerheads, a steam room and Jacuzzi tub. There were 2 sinks at the bathroom vanity for each of them to use.

“Can we eat now?” Vegeta asked eying the table filled with food in the sitting area as they walked out of the bathroom.

Bulma sighed, “Yes we can eat.”

They sat down in the large upholstered chairs opposite one another. The table in front of them was filled with food from the barbeque restaurant that Bulma had gotten delivery from several years ago on the night that she decided to make an effort with Vegeta.

“Do you like the room?” she asked not knowing if she was mentally ready for whatever smart-ass comment he would likely have since she had worked hard on the bedroom suite over the last couple of weeks.

“It’s adequate,” he nodded, between mouthfuls of food.

“I will take that as compliment, especially because you didn’t poke fun at anything, _and_ you’re hungry,” Bulma replied.

“Well there is an absurd amount of pillows on the bed. Do you expect we will be sleeping sitting up right?” Vegeta pointed out.

“They’re decorative,” Bulma clarified.

“…Decorative for what? We are the only ones sleeping in this room,” Vegeta said in mild confusion.

“They make the room look nice! We don’t sleep with them on the bed.”

“The room looks nice without a hundred extra pillows.”

“You think the room looks nice!” Bulma said happily, ignoring his quip about the pillows and focusing on the positive.

Vegeta hmphed before digging into a pile of ribs. As he ate his way through the different types of meat he realized that this food was very familiar. “This is the same food that you ordered when you asked what my favorite food was from my home planet,” Vegeta remarked.

Bulma couldn’t contain the big smile that crossed her face, “You remembered!”

“It’s pretty hard to forget brisket,” he pointed out.

But Bulma knew he hadn’t remembered just the food that night as he also recalled exactly what they had talked about. Her heart swelled as she stared across at Vegeta who pretended to be focused on his food in front of him and not on the giant smile lighting up Bulma’s face that he had put there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few of you mentioned that you wanted longer chapters so hopefully I delivered! I hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you all again for your kudos and comments, I really look forward to reading them and it really does motivate me to get these chapters going. So if you could be so nice as to let me know what you think, I love hearing from you! 
> 
> <3  
> Mawr Blaidd Drwg


	6. Compromises

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Sorry for such a delay between updates, work has been pretty crazy lately. I've included an especially long chapter to make up for it as well as a lemon at the end XD. Thank you for any kind words and/or kudos <3
> 
> Happy reading!
> 
> xx  
> Mawr Blaidd Drwg

“Da-da!” Trunks proclaimed loudly as Vegeta walked into the kitchen. Trunks squeezed his fist in such excitement that he broke the small plastic spoon in half that he had been using to eat his dinner. Bulma didn’t know if she’d ever get over how adorable it was seeing Trunks interact with Vegeta. He always got so excited whenever he was around and although Vegeta appeared to be irritated by it, the fact that he wasn’t avoiding him anymore was already such huge progress for him. She couldn’t contain her smile at Vegeta who hmphed in acknowledgement of Trunks.

“He needs stronger utensils to eat with,” Vegeta pointed out.

“Yes I see that,” Bulma said rolling her eyes at Vegeta stating the obvious.

“Da-da train!” Trunks said loudly.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow at Bulma. “See, the kid wants to train. He said so himself,” Vegeta said as he grabbed several helpings of sushi and sat down at the table opposite Bulma and Trunks.

Ever since he heard about Kakarot’s mate being pregnant he had been pushing to train Trunks. It was bad enough that Gohan had been the victor in the fight against Cell, but he certainly wouldn’t have another offspring of Kakarot become stronger than his own son. Trunks would be stronger than Gohan and this soon to be brat would ever be, especially with Vegeta’s guidance.

“No, he’s just observing that you were training,” Bulma replied defensively. “He knows that’s where you go during the day. He’s just expanding his vocabulary and repeating words that I say to him.”

“Train!” Trunks shouted as he threw the broken utensil pieces to the floor, the plastic broke into several more pieces as it shattered onto the kitchen tile. “Train!”

One of the pieces of the plastic spoon ricocheted and hit Bulma’s bare leg sticking out from under her white skirt. She could already feel a bruise forming from where it had hit her.

“Trunks!” Bulma scolded as she leaned down to pick up the pieces. “We do not throw things like that!”

Trunks’ bottom lip quivered and tears started to well in his eyes at his mother’s stern tone. He started to hit his small fists onto the tray of his high chair in frustration.

“Knock it off,” Vegeta snapped at Trunks while flexing his ki ever so slightly at his son. “Stop your whining and listen to your mother.”

Trunks’ lip stopped quivering and the tears that had filled his eyes spilled out and disappeared before he made solemn eye contact with Vegeta. Since he had gotten over the teething he had been back to respecting Vegeta’s higher power level and not challenging his authority.

“He needs to train. His strength is already far above a weak human and he needs somewhere to channel that energy or he’s going to start breaking everything and become more aggressive. The discipline of training will help with that,” Vegeta said in between mouthfuls of the sushi.

Bulma bit her lip realizing that unfortunately Vegeta was right. Her sweet little boy was starting to break a lot of his toys, not even purposely and was exhibiting signs of frustration over what seemed like nothing. While the frustrated feelings were normal for most children of his age, his super strength and part Saiyan genes could turn normalcy into danger if not checked properly. He had already accidentally hurt her several times now and once he even grabbed her still healing wrist, nearly breaking it again. He was able to not only walk just fine on his own now, but also was sprinting and running quite a bit. But she was hoping Vegeta hadn’t really noticed that too much yet. She wanted to be able to cling to him being an innocent little baby as long as she could but it seemed as though he was growing up faster than she could keep up with.

She loved the idea of Vegeta and Trunks spending more time together. It was important not only for Trunks to bond with his father but it was exceedingly even more important for Vegeta to develop a relationship with his son other than telling him to “stop” or “quit whining” at dinner time. Bulma also had to admit it would certainly make her day easier if she could just focus on her work for a portion of the day while Trunks was training. She had been trying to balance her workload while being a mom and she was ready to start diving into even more complicated projects. And not having to chase Trunks around would help quite a bit. Plus, it was certainly time for Vegeta to take some responsibility of the parenting load.

“Fine… but a few ground rules,” Bulma said as she crossed her arms over her chest in a very Vegeta-like way.

Vegeta narrowed his eyes. He should have known that Bulma would have to make this slightly annoying instead of just an easy transition into training. She made such a big deal over his first birthday, his first steps and other things that didn’t seem to really matter much. A Saiyan’s first training session, now _that_ was a big deal and something to celebrate. But she was being a nuisance of how he wasn’t ready yet. His son was not some puny human; he was half-Saiyan and had royal blood flowing through his veins.

“He can’t train _all_ day with you. He needs to stick to a schedule and that includes some learning and play time as well. _And_ , if he starts to get injured, like actually injured and not just bruises or scrapes, then that’s it, no more training until he’s a little bit older,” Bulma negotiated in her very business like tone that she had perfected over the years of working with clients.

He didn’t want to spend all day training him anyhow. That wasn’t exactly an effective workout or training regiment for himself if he was around a child the whole time. It’s not like he was going to put him in the gravity chamber and raise the gravity level to 450 on the first day. Though Vegeta vaguely remembered how he broke his arm and dislocated his shoulder the first time he trained. He didn’t say a word and kept training, knowing better than to complain or say anything to his father.

Their eyes locked and the fierce look in her blue eyes made Vegeta realize she would not budge on this matter of potential injury. As annoying as she was, he enjoyed seeing the strong willed look on her face. It was very Saiyan-like of her and often made him forget that she was just a weak human.

“Fine,” Vegeta said. “But as he gets older, he trains for longer each day. And when he’s strong enough, I don’t go easy on him and you don’t complain about it.”

“Deal,” Bulma said as she stuck out her hand to Vegeta who stared at it and then brought his eyes up to hers as though she had lost her mind.

“You’re supposed to shake hands after making a deal,” she said. “It makes it more legitimate.”

Vegeta huffed before he put down his chopsticks and stuck out his hand. Bulma grinned as she took his hand in hers and shook it. As she let go of his hand, she leaned over and kissed his cheek quickly and Vegeta immediately made a face and became flustered. He hated when she did that to him.

Trunks who had sat very quietly since being scolded by both of his parents started to giggle seeing the embarrassed reaction on his dad’s face and the big smile his mom wore.

“Enough!” Vegeta grumbled at Trunks who continued to giggle and clap his hands.

~*~

Bulma stood outside of the gravity ship holding Trunks’ small fist wondering when she had blinked and suddenly he went from just being born to going to train with Vegeta for the first time. She was trying to hold back tears because she knew if she got emotional that Vegeta would get annoyed and likely make fun of her, but this was a big deal! Not only for Trunks, but for Vegeta, who had tried to avoid the future version of their son at all costs even when training. But now he was willingly about to spend time with their young son and was actually pushing for it to happen for a while now.

“Trunks train?” Trunks asked as he looked up at his mother with his big blue eyes in wonder.

“That’s right honey you’re going to train today with Da-da,” Bulma said smiling down at him. He was wearing his own little training outfit similar to what Vegeta usually wore when he was just training and not going into a battle; a black sleeveless shirt tucked into shorts. She even had a little sweatband to push back his purple hair out of his eyes that was starting to get long. She took a couple of pictures of him on her phone turning to see that Vegeta had opened the gravity room door and had been watching the two with his arms folded over his chest.

“You’re not allowed to make fun of me, this is a big deal okay!” Bulma said defensively from her small photo session as she made eye contact with Vegeta.

“It is a big deal for a Saiayn to train for the first time, take your stupid pictures I don’t care,” Vegeta shrugged.

Bulma did a double take. Did Vegeta just agree with her? And give her an okay to take pictures? Had hell suddenly frozen over?

“Okay honey, go stand next to your father for a picture!” Bulma said as Trunks ran over next to Vegeta’s side. Vegeta kept his arms folded over his chest and turned away so that he wasn’t looking at the camera. His signature move for any time Bulma forced a photo of him. But she didn’t mind, at least he had a great profile for pictures and he wasn’t arguing with her about it for once! If she had known this would happen she would have agreed to this sooner.

She smiled as she took a couple of photos on her phone, Trunks and Vegeta wearing matching training outfits with Vegeta looking only mildly annoyed and Trunks standing beside him grinning ear to ear. It was enough to make her heart burst from her chest.

“Good luck, Trunks! Kick your dad’s butt!” Bulma said as the two made their way into the chamber. Trunks giggled and waved at his mom and followed his dad into the chamber, the door closing behind them.

~*~

Bulma sat at her desk staring idly at the computer screen. She couldn’t take it any longer. It had been a week since Trunks had started training with Vegeta and she wanted to catch a glimpse into what was happening inside of the chamber. So far, Trunks had not broken anything or gotten injured so Vegeta had kept his end of the bargain. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Vegeta, rather she was just extremely curious about what sort of training a nearly 18-month-old could actually even do.

She casually made her way outside towards the gravity chamber until she was able to look into the windows inside, hoping that Vegeta would be too preoccupied to notice that she was there checking in on them. When she looked inside Vegeta was crouched down with his palms facing outwards towards Trunks. Trunks was swinging his chubby little arms and trying to land a fist onto Vegeta’s hands, but he nearly fell down with too much force.

“No. That’s incorrect,” Vegeta said, but his voice was very calm and more patient than she had ever heard it before. She nearly did a double take when she heard it, unsure if it was actually Vegeta speaking. He wasn’t talking to him like a normal person would talk to a small child, but his tone wasn’t as rough as it usually was either.

“Watch,” Vegeta stood up and Trunks followed him with his head and eyes. “You need to balance your body like this,” Vegeta demonstrated separating his legs and standing on the balls of his feet. “Or the momentum from your strength will cause you to fall down when you swing.”

Bulma knew that Trunks didn’t understand half of what Vegeta just said, the vocabulary going way over his head, no matter how intelligent he was. But Trunks nodded his head up and down. “’Kay!” he said loudly.

“Make sure your elbows are tucked in too,” Vegeta pointed out as he put Trunks’ elbows into the right position.

“Try again,” Vegeta said crouching back down so that he was at Trunks’ height and held up the palms of his hands once again. Trunks followed Vegeta’s directions and balanced his weight onto the balls of his feet evenly between both legs. When he swung, he was stable and connected his fist right into Vegeta’s hand.

“Good,” Vegeta nodded as Trunks continued to swing his fists.

“Now, turn around,” Vegeta instructed and Trunks did as he was told so that he was facing towards Bulma staring at them through the window. “And tell your mother to stop bothering us and to get back to her work,” Vegeta said making eye contact with her through the window, his eyes narrowing at her.

Bulma blushed furiously as Trunks shouted, “Mama no bother!”

“Alright, alright!” she snapped as she turned away from the window and started making her way back into Capsule Corp.

She couldn’t help but suddenly think of the future version of their son with a twinge of sadness, wondering how different it would have been for him if he had gotten this special moment with Vegeta when he was a child. Instead of the calloused rage that he experienced with him the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. She pushed the feeling aside and replaced it with the happiness and pride she was feeling at seeing father and son spend quality time with one another.

~*~

Vegeta’s eyes opened as he blinked himself awake. Another night had gone by without a flashback or a nightmare, he realized with relief. He checked the time on the table next to his side of the bed realizing he had woken up before his usual alarm to get ready for training. He realized, as he adjusted into consciousness, that Bulma was not in their bed. He searched her ki for a moment and found that she was in the kitchen. He frowned in confusion wondering what she was doing in there, because it wasn’t like her at all to wake up this early.

After getting dressed and brushing his teeth, Vegeta checked on Trunks, but he was not in his room, so maybe Bulma had woken up because of that and brought him to the kitchen though he wasn’t able to sense his ki. He crossed his arms over his chest and made his way down to the kitchen. As he entered the kitchen, he smelled what was happening before his vision caught up with him. On the table was an entire breakfast spread of everything you could imagine. Stacks of pancakes, plates upon plates of bacon and sausage, all sorts of breads and pastries. Vegeta felt his mouth watering as he stared at all of it. Bulma hadn’t noticed that he was standing in the doorway yet and she continued to take containers out of bags and unloaded them onto the table. He noticed that Trunks wasn’t with her either.

He watched her silently as he leaned against the doorway with his arms still folded over his chest, wondering what exactly she was up to. Breakfast usually consisted of something he would have to grab from the fridge and heat up because he was the first one awake between the two. He had never seen her up this early before and looking so put together. Usually she would practically crawl downstairs to the kitchen, still in her pajamas, with her hair half sticking up and her eyes half shut before making herself some coffee and then she would be ready to function for the day and go get Trunks ready. But today, she was fully dressed in jeans and a soft gray sweater, her hair combed neatly and her eyes wide opened. He was also impressed that she managed to sneak out of their room without waking him up.

Bulma rummaged through the last of the bags before remembering that she needed to get orange juice from the refrigerator. As she turned in that direction she jumped at seeing Vegeta leaning against the doorway staring at her.

“Jeez you need a bell or something on you, you scared me!” Bulma said in surprise.

“What are you doing?” Vegeta asked suspiciously as he uncrossed his arms.

“I was trying to surprise you,” she explained. “It’s November 11th!”

Vegeta stared at her blankly, hoping he hadn’t forgotten another birthday or event that he was somehow magically supposed to know about, without enduring her everlasting wrath. Or hopefully it wasn’t another day like that dreadful “Halloween” that consisted of extremely bizarre traditions involving large orange vegetables, overly sweet candy and weird costumes. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”

“Remember a few months ago when you said that you didn’t know when your birthday was? Well today is officially your birthday,” Bulma announced happily.

“For fuck’s sake, I thought you were joking about that,” Vegeta stated in horror recalling that “birthdays” meant a party with a lot of other people and that some sort of singing was involved, like what had happened at Trunks’ birthday party. It sounded something close to a nightmare and not what he was in the mood for dealing with today or ever.

“Nope, I wasn’t joking! This is your birthday breakfast,” Bulma said before sitting down at the table.

Vegeta glared at her. He didn’t know what she was up to, but he didn’t like it one bit, and her overly cheerful demeanor this early in the morning was very unsettling and unlike her. One thing that Bulma and Vegeta had in common was how unhappy they were in the morning and they had an unspoken agreement to not speak until they were fully awake or before Bulma had her first cup of coffee. Even if they had sex in the morning, no words were exchanged.

“Stop making faces and eat,” Bulma rolled her eyes as she sipped her third mug of coffee. “I figured you would want to eat your breakfast in peace.”

Vegeta slowly sat down at the table and began to dish out his plates, still eying her suspiciously the entire time. Half concerned that her annoying friends were suppressing their ki’s and would pop into the kitchen at any moment.

Bulma nearly laughed at the worried look on Vegeta’s face as she grabbed a croissant and started eating. Her plan was already working.

True to her word, Vegeta was able to eat his breakfast in peace and complete silence. Bulma hadn’t said a single sentence out loud and instead seemed to be scrolling on her phone most of the time, answering emails and scheduling meetings while they ate. What was even more interesting was that her mother hadn’t walked into the kitchen yet either. Usually she would be the only person awake when Vegeta woke up to go and train and would be buzzing around the kitchen trying to carry a conversation while Vegeta would try to get his breakfast as quickly as possible. He was half convinced that she didn’t actually sleep, instead she powered down like an android or something. But she had been nowhere in sight either. Vegeta had to admit that the breakfast was pretty incredible. He didn’t understand how she was still able to find so many new food places to introduce him to after all of this time.

After he finished his food and was finally starting to feel less suspicious about everything, Vegeta stood up from his chair and Bulma immediately locked her phone and put it into her pocket, also standing up with him.

“Okay onto the next part of your birthday, your present!” Bulma said excitedly.

Vegeta nearly paled. If she was intending on having some sort of “party” for him then this would be his first and _only_ birthday. “This is stupid, you know I don’t care about this ridiculous birthday thing like you do,” Vegeta said in irritation.

“I don’t know, I think you’re going to change your mind about that,” Bulma said cheekily.

Vegeta gave her a look that said he most certainly would not, which only caused the smile on her face to broaden even further.

“Follow me,” she said and began making her way out of the kitchen. Vegeta searched Capsule Corp, still not picking up on any other ki’s, especially none of her friends so he reluctantly followed her.

She brought him to an area of the building he had never been to before. It wasn’t too far from her lab, but it was far enough away from the main part of Capsule Corp, which was probably why he had never been here before. He usually only went to the kitchen, the gravity ship outdoors, and to their bedroom. There was a large steel door that had a weird wheel mechanism on the outside of it as well as a number code touch pad.

Bulma walked over and typed in a few numbers so that a beeping sound echoed and there was an audible click of the metal door unlocking. She turned around and the smile on her face widened even more. Vegeta glared at her, he **did not** like surprises unless it involved her being naked and she knew that.

“Well, aren’t you going to open the door?” she asked innocently.

He huffed a deep breath, realizing she would never stop bothering him until he obliged, before he turned the wheel on the metal door. When he opened it, several dim lights turned on illuminating the room. As he entered, he looked around the room realizing it was similar to the gravity chamber that she had built into the spaceship. This one was nearly triple the size of that chamber; it was a brand new Gravity Room.

“It’s voice activated so it’s easier for you to control the settings while you’re in the middle of training. It’s also reinforced with a much stronger material that I developed and synthesized, so it will be better at reflecting blasts and taking damage without impacting the rest of the Capsule Corp building. It’s nearly indestructible, unless you purposely tried to blow it up… which I’m hoping you don’t,” Bulma said with a laugh.

“The training bots have been upgraded as well, also with voice commands. And I’ve included some laser devices all around the perimeter of the room that you can control. There’s also several touch screens that you can control settings for too,” Bulma explained as Vegeta walked around the room staring at the metal walls in wonder.

When she said she had gotten him something for this stupid birthday thing he assumed it would be something he wouldn’t care about and would probably just be a useless Earth item, like the clothing she would buy for him. He had not expected _this_. He also hadn’t realized that she had even been working on this in the first place. She had been extra busy lately, but he assumed it was another project for the company that she and her father were working on, not this. Not for him. He felt uncomfortable suddenly. Realizing this kind and generous thing she had done for him in addition to everything else she had already done.

“I put the spaceship in a capsule that’s in the adjoining room in that storage closet through that door over there, it’s labeled with some towels, and water bottles,” she added pointing to the area she was talking about. “You can change the number code on the door to whatever you want to remember. I put it on there so Trunks can’t sneak in here and accidentally hurt himself.”

He examined the room for a few moments still unable to formulate words. He turned around finally to face her, stunned into complete silence. His whole body began to feel warm and his limbs felt tingly as though the nerve endings had fallen asleep.

“Oh and the other part of your birthday gift…” Bulma paused for dramatic effect and Vegeta tensed once again.

“No one will bother you for the rest of the day. I sent my parents off on small getaway for today and tonight and they took Trunks with them. I figured you would want to test out the new room today instead of training him. I promise there’s going to be no party or anyone here, but I will have a nice dinner later on whenever you’re done. Just you and I.”

Vegeta stared at her in awe and she grinned at him. “Seeing you horrified about the possibility of having a surprise party and having to interact with everyone brought me enough joy to not actually have one,” she laughed. “Birthday’s should be all about you and your favorite things. So I made sure to get you a breakfast full of protein, a new gravity room and the gift of being left alone.”

She made her way out of the room memorizing the look of complete and utter surprise and appreciation on Vegeta’s face. It wasn’t often that she could stun him into silence and she enjoyed those moments whenever they happened.

“Happy birthday, Vegeta,” Bulma said softly before she left the room and closed the heavy metal door leaving a silent and awestruck Vegeta behind her.

~*~

“So the company is being nominated for a prestigious award in science because of the synthesized metal I used to build your gravity room. My dad and I have found it has a great capability to be used for buildings and tanks to seriously minimize damage from natural disasters or from weapons,” Bulma said as Vegeta got into their bed.

He had just finished showering and getting ready for bed and his immediate plan had been to have Bulma underneath of him as quickly as possible, but then she had started talking.

“What do they give you for it?” Vegeta asked as he began to toy with the strap of her tank top, sliding his clever fingers across her skin and under the strap.

Bulma knew he was trying to distract her, but she wasn’t going to buy into it. Even if she had to take a deep breath to try to ignore his trailing fingers.

“It’s a trophy sort of prize, like the ones that are on the shelves in the lab from different awards. You don’t really get any money or anything for it. It’s more so that the company is acknowledged and credited for huge advances in science and it adds even more credibility to us for potential future clients,” Bulma explained.

“So it’s for bragging rights then?” Vegeta asked as he started to slowly drag the strap down off of her shoulder.

“Well yes. But it’s more than that. It’s a pretty big deal; it gets media attention globally. We submitted the metal to the board months ago, around your birthday, but the ceremony is coming up now, it happens every 5 years in May. Also this is a big deal for me because I developed it without my father’s help.”

“So you get to brag about this award and then you have to go to a ceremony? Why don’t they just give you the award and be done with it. The ceremony seems like a waste of time,” Vegeta said, slightly annoyed that this conversation was taking longer than he had expected especially since talking was not how he was planning to spend his evening with Bulma.

“They haven’t announced the winner yet. They announce it at the ceremony and they make a whole big deal out of it. There’s a dinner and everything,” Bulma replied.

“So you might not win it then? And then you would have to sit through this event?” Vegeta said making a face.

He remembered vaguely his father having to attend events as part of his royal duties, but he would never sit through anything like that especially without the guarantee of actually winning whatever it was. It seemed rather preposterous and a waste of time.

“Well, yeah I guess so,” Bulma realized in annoyance, the conversation not going the way she had hoped it would. She hadn’t even gotten to her point yet and Vegeta was already frustrating her.

“Hmph,” Vegeta grunted as his fingers moved to the other strap of her tank top.

“Well, I brought this up because the people nominated for the awards bring guests with them for the ceremony,” she explained sitting up more in their bed to face him better as she spoke.

Vegeta paused the movement of his hands.

“So I want you to come to the ceremony with me,” Bulma said, looking him square in the eye.

Vegeta stared at her for a moment before he chuckled. He stopped when Bulma glared at him.

“You were being serious,” he stated in confusion.

“Yes, I was being serious. This is really important to me and I want you to go to the ceremony with me,” she answered trying to calm the irritation in her tone, knowing full well that if she got snippy with him that he would get defensive.

“You want me to attend a ceremony with a bunch of annoying humans I’ve never met or associated with for an award that you may not win?” he asked checking to see if he understood her correctly because it sounded like the exact opposite of something he would ever want to do.

“Yes. _As I said_ , this is important to me and I would like you to be there,” Bulma said trying and failing to remain calm in her response.

“I’m not going to this ridiculous ceremony,” Vegeta snapped.

Bulma pulled the straps of her tank top up that he had slid down and sat up even taller in their bed.

“What do you mean, ‘you’re not going’?” she asked rhetorically.

“I meant, exactly what I said. I am not going to this event,” Vegeta explained his tone crisp as he also sat up in the bed, the two now facing one another, readying themselves to engage in a verbal battle.

“Oh, so you have other more important plans than being a supportive partner to me?” Bulma seethed through gritted teeth.

“Why does it matter if I am there?” he retorted, not understanding what the big deal was about this. Bulma attended events for the company regularly and never asked him to do this before. He didn’t understand why this particular event was so important to her, especially because she may not even win the blasted award though they would be stupid not to pick her and he would have to consider blasting them all straight to hell if they didn’t pick her to win. He had witnessed firsthand just how powerful the synthesized metal was that she developed when training in his gravity room.

“Because all of the other nominees will have their significant others there! It’s an industry dominated by men and I get enough shit for being a woman in science as it is, it would be nice to have some support,” Bulma explained, her tone getting more shrill as each word left her mouth.

“So it doesn’t matter if I’m there then, it’s all just for show. You’ve proven yourself more than capable in handling this company. What does it matter if you are a woman? That doesn’t even make sense,” Vegeta frowned in confusion. “You’re independent and self-reliant, there’s no reason for me to need to attend this.”

“Vegeta, I don’t ask a lot from you. Last time I checked the only things I ask you to do are: not blow up the Earth, be committed to me and to be a father to our son. That’s it! I don’t ask anything else! Part of being committed is doing things to support one another!” Bulma shouted, her voice rising as she flung the blankets from the bed off of her body and got out of bed.

“I’ve accepted that I’ve had to give up a lot of normal things for this relationship. We don’t go on dates, or attend events together or anything ever because you hate my friends, but this is important,” she added angrily.

Vegeta got out of bed standing on the other side of it facing her now. “Last time _I_ checked you are the one who asked me to stay,” Vegeta snarled, his voice now rising in anger. “If all of these vacuous human things are so important to you, then you should have just settled for the weakling, rather than wanting me to change so much.”

Bulma felt her blood pressure rising. “Nobody is forcing you to stay here! It’s been a year now; you can go anytime you please if you’re so unhappy! I gave you an out and _you chose_ to stay. And say what you will about Yamcha but he attended events with me regularly, without making me feel bad about it! I’m not asking you to change. I’m just asking you to do something for me!”

“He also slept with other women regularly but then I guess your idea of commitment is meaningless, you’d rather just a show,” Vegeta growled realizing that he may have gone too far after the words left his mouth. This fight was taking such a sour turn and he didn’t even know why.

Bulma felt her jaw drop. “How _dare_ you!” she screamed at him.

“You think that I don’t understand what commitment means? After everything I’ve done for you and in trying to build our life together? You’re the one who doesn’t understand commitment! I don’t even know what to call what is between us, but I still put up with you because I want to be with you. I don’t know what else you expect from me to prove to you that I want to be with you. I should have known better than to even consider the idea of you putting someone else’s needs above your own. You’re too selfish to _ever_ understand that.”

Vegeta clenched his fists at his sides and began to walk towards the bedroom door to leave, feeling his anger simmering within him and knowing it was a bad idea to stay in the room with her at this moment.

“Oh no! _You_ don’t get to storm away and disappear from this one like usual! **I do**!” Bulma shouted as she cut in front of him and out of their bedroom. She slammed the doors behind her in fury, rattling the entire wall that the doors were connected to.

She couldn’t remember the last time she was this angry. Sure Vegeta pissed her off and annoyed her at times, but that was just in the normal way that couples bicker with one another, especially for them. Unfortunately when she was truly mad, he knew exactly which buttons to press and what words to twist better than anyone. Though it hadn’t been this bad in a long time.

More than anything she was disappointed. She didn’t think that she was asking for a lot. She just wanted him to show face at the ceremony. He didn’t even need to talk to anyone! In fact she preferred if he didn’t, Kami knows what he would say to people or how many people he would threaten. She had never felt the need to ask him before because she knew he wouldn’t want to go and she didn’t mind attending solo. But the paparazzi had been hitting hard lately, and she just wanted to show face. She knew it was shallow and superficial to play up to their stupid mind games, but she couldn’t help how insecure it made her feel to be targeted again.

The last event she had attended, she overheard a table of clients mentioning how it was sad that she was raising her son alone and that there was no man in the picture. How they weren’t sure if she could handle more on her plate with trying to juggle too many responsibilities. Such a sexist comment would have normally just made her roll her eyes, but it bothered her because it wasn’t even actually true! It made it sound as though Vegeta was an absent father, which wasn’t the case. If anything he had worked this whole year at becoming a better father to Trunks and it made her mad to hear such things. If he would just attend this event that was sure to get a lot of publicity then it would shut up the tabloids for a little while.

She didn’t want to tell him all of that because she knew he would think it was even more ridiculous than just attending the event in it of itself. Her and Vegeta had been together for nearly a year now and she was genuinely happy with him and their relationship, happier than she had even anticipated being. But since their one-year anniversary was looming around the corner, old insecurities started to pop up again that the tabloid just so happened to inadvertently exploit. Was Vegeta happy? Was he even capable of being happy? Did he regret staying? Was he going to stay forever? Did “being committed” just mean that he would live at Capsule Corp and there would be no official or legal connection between them? She didn’t know how to ask him these questions and now it had all blown up in their faces over this stupid fight. She didn’t even know why the fight had gotten as bad as it did.

Bulma collapsed in her lab chair and ran her fingers through her blue hair. On the one hand she was frustrated with herself for letting the opinions of others complicate everything that had been going so well. But on the other she was also mad that Vegeta couldn’t just be supportive and agree to do something that was important to her even if it was something he didn’t want to do. A small voice in the back of her head reminded her of all of the things Vegeta had done the past year that she would have died from shock if she had witnessed when he first came to Earth. He had adjusted to life on Earth as best as he could for her sake and maybe she _was_ asking too much of him to do this, at least right now. Maybe he needed more time.

She thought of Vegeta tossing and turning and waking in a cold sweat from flashbacks from his past. Guilt settled itself uneasily within her. They hadn’t been happening as frequently but when they did, they were a reminder to her of just how awful Vegeta’s life had been before coming here. It was no wonder he was slow to adjusting, or why he was uncomfortable in most scenarios. He had done terrible things, was tortured and on the run most of his life and this was the first he had really slowed down and actually tried to enjoy life. Maybe it was too much for him to process.

Bulma sighed, giving herself a headache trying to see all sides of this argument and their relationship and feeling more confused than ever before. She ran her hand over the misshapen metal of her desk where his hand had been years ago wishing beyond reason that everything would sort itself out on its own so that she wouldn’t have to.

///

Bulma had not returned to their room that night and Vegeta went to go training rather than attempt any form of sleep. When he emerged by mid morning for some food, he didn’t sense her ki anywhere on the Capsule Corp grounds. He frowned as he entered the kitchen to find her mother having breakfast with Trunks. Trunks was sitting in his booster seat with his legs swinging back and forth happily as he ate. Bulma’s mother was going through some mail that was on the table.

“’Morning, Da-da!” Trunks waved at Vegeta as he sat down at the table.

Vegeta nodded at his son in acknowledgment.

“Good morning Vegeta!” Mrs. Brief cried happily in a singsong voice, causing Vegeta to shudder.

“We trainin’ today?” Trunks asked before shoving a fistful of cheerios into his mouth.

“Yes we will train after breakfast,” Vegeta agreed before grabbing a plate of bacon and sausage.

“Where is your mother?” Vegeta asked as nonchalantly as possible as he started biting into a piece of bacon.

He was still mad about their fight last night, but it was also very unlike her to disappear like this. Normally it was the other way around and she was pestering him to talk when he didn’t want to, and now here he was wondering where she had gone. He did not like it one bit.

“Dunno,” Trunks said with a shrug as he started eating some bacon from his plate the same way Vegeta was.

“Oh Vegeta, how sweet you are being worried about Bulma! She said she’ll be back later, she had to run some errands for the award ceremony tomorrow. I think she just needs a break. Poor thing is having a hard time with the paparazzi again,” Mrs. Briefs interjected.

Vegeta frowned not understanding what she was talking about. Those cockroaches hadn’t dared to come near Capsule Corp in a long time otherwise he would have personally eliminated them. The last he had heard of it was when they took pictures of them by the pool years ago.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Oh well you know, they gave her a hard time when she was pregnant with Trunks saying some pretty terrible things about both of them, especially with her not being married and the public not knowing who his father was. And now they’ve started up again because Capsule Corp has been in the headlines more with the award ceremony coming up,” Mrs. Briefs sighed sadly. “See, here’s one that came in yesterday.”

This was news to Vegeta, having not heard about them bothering her during her pregnancy or after Trunks was born. Though he remembered with mild guilt that he had not been around much during that time and he would likely not have paid it any mind even if he was aware of it.

She pulled a magazine out of the pile of mail she was sorting through and pushed it over to Vegeta’s side of the table. He grabbed the magazine and stared at the cover that had photos of Bulma out shopping with Trunks, looking stressed as Trunks was grabbing at a bunch of things on shelves. The headline read, “Capsule Corp Heiress – Can she keep up with the award nominated company and being a single mom?” When he flipped to the middle of the magazine the article was detailing how she was struggling to find a balance between being a single mom and working for the biggest company in the world. It also discussed speculation about who the absent father was. There were all sorts of pictures of her with Trunks at a park; neither of them realized their picture was being taken, completely encroaching upon their privacy.

It all made sense to him now why she was urging him to go to this stupid event and why it had been important to her in the first place. Vegeta slammed the magazine shut and stood up from the table, knocking the chair over in the process, alarming both Mrs. Briefs and Trunks.

“We will train later,” Vegeta seethed before storming out of the room.

“Uh-oh. Da-da’s real mad,” Trunks said widening his eyes after feeling his father’s power level spike, that usually only happened when they were training together in the gravity room.

~*~

Bulma put the finishing touches on her make-up, checking her appearance in the mirror one more time for good measure. She looked flawless, and had gotten another jaw dropping dress to show off her figure though this one was slightly more modest than the one she had worn to show off her post-pregnancy body. It was a deep purple with a low cut back, dropping down to her waist with several strings of diamonds going down from her neck to her lower back. The front was cut in a sweetheart showing just enough cleavage. The silk fabric hugged her body at her hips and then dropped down in a mermaid cut to the floor. The paparazzi may be attacking her life and her character but they certainly couldn’t attack her appearance.

She had not seen Vegeta since their fight, though she heard the gravity room humming with life earlier, and her mother told her that Vegeta had trained with Trunks for a little bit yesterday. So at least he hadn’t left Capsule Corp grounds, but he was actively avoiding her. She already accepted that he was not going but at this point she just wanted to at least talk to him. Bulma hated having this between them and wished to resolve it. She sighed as she grabbed her small purse and made her way out of the bedroom to go downstairs. When she made her way to the main entryway she nearly passed out at the sight in front of her.

Vegeta stood with his arms folded over his chest glaring at a nearby wall as her mother made a fuss over him. He was dressed in a navy tuxedo jacket that fit him perfectly with a black bowtie on and black pants. He looked extremely uncomfortable and annoyed but Bulma couldn’t get over how unbelievable he looked in a suit. She strongly considered just forgoing the entire event that had caused so many unnecessary problems and jumping him right on the spot.

“Oh honey you look gorgeous!” Mrs. Briefs cried upon seeing Bulma entering the room. Her mother was holding Trunks’ hand and was not dressed in her gown for the event. Her father stood next to her, also not dressed in his tux for the event.

Vegeta felt her ki entering the room and finally turned to look at her at her mother’s words, his frown deep and severe. His frown lifted considerably as he took in her appearance, his jaw becoming slack. She looked absolutely stunning and he couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

“You two make such a beautiful couple! I’ve been saying it for years,” Mrs. Briefs giggled. “Stand next to each other for a picture!”

Bulma beamed at Vegeta giving him a big smile before standing next to him. Vegeta refused to look at the camera, but he also didn’t move out of the frame either, which she considered a victory. Bulma scooped Trunks up into her arms for another picture with all three of them.

“How come neither of you are dressed or ready to go?” Bulma asked as Mrs. Briefs took one more picture for good measure. She placed Trunks down and smoothed out her dress.

“I’ve decided not to go, so you will be fully representing the company,” Dr. Briefs said as he took a drag from his cigarette.

“Dad, are you sure? This is a really big deal and-“

“I’m definitely sure, you’re the one who developed the material after all. You’ll do great, and you’ll show them that you can handle all parts of the company without any help,” he interrupted her with a smile. “You two better get going or you’ll be late!”

“Bye-bye Mama and Da-da!” Trunks waved from his grandmother’s side.

Bulma waved back at her son, blowing him a kiss before her and Vegeta made their way into one of the fancier company aircrafts that had a hired chauffer for the event. Once they were settled and the aircraft took off Bulma turned to look at Vegeta from the long cushioned bench-like seat that they shared. He was staring out the window with his arms folded over his chest and she gazed at the muscles of his arms that flexed and tightened against the navy fabric of the suit jacket.

“Vegeta… thank you,” she said softly as she touched his arm, still not really sure how they went from yelling at one another to him sitting in a tuxedo next to her.

“Why did you not tell me about the paparazzi scum?” he grumbled, still not making eye contact.

Bulma felt her cheeks flushing. How did he know about that?

“Your mother informed me of it and showed me their latest photographs and book. She told me about how they treated you when you were pregnant with Trunks too. I can’t guarantee that I won’t snap one of their necks if they are there tonight,” he said finally turning and facing her. His face was twisted up in fury and Bulma couldn’t help the warmth filling her at seeing him so angry about how she was treated.

“It’s dumb that I’m letting it get to me. They’ve been harassing me for most of my adult life but I don’t like that it’s involving Trunks now and spreading lies about my life and about you,” she admitted. “I think that’s why I got so upset when we fought because it’s been on my mind a lot.”

Vegeta gave her a long and steady look, still half mesmerized by her appearance tonight, finding it difficult to focus on what she was saying.

“How did you get ready in time for this?” Bulma asked in curiosity, also wondering how Vegeta even knew what sort of outfit to wear.

“I asked your mother what appropriate attire was for this sort of thing and then she nearly combusted from enthusiasm and hired a ‘tailor,’ I think she called it. It was absolutely terrible. She wanted it to be a ‘surprise.’ You _owe me_ ,” Vegeta shuddered thinking about the whole ordeal.

Bulma laughed at the visual Vegeta just created for her. Also the thought of Vegeta putting up with her mother in order to get himself situated for this event, and for her was one of the most romantic things he had ever done. “I’m sure I can find a way to repay you for that,” she smirked and his eyes darkened.

He caught a glimmer on her back reflecting light in the aircraft and brought his finger to touch the diamonds that lay in a long rope along her spine. He ran his fingers down the length of it and brought it back up, feeling her shudder underneath his touch. Bulma took a deep breath in, trying to find the will to keep herself together.

~*~

As soon as the aircraft landed and the chauffer walked around to open the door for Bulma and Vegeta, she could already see flashbulbs bursting around them like fireworks through the windows.

She took a long deep breath in, “No matter how irritating they are, please don’t kill anyone,” Bulma said to Vegeta who practically rolled his eyes at her in a very Bulma-like way. “Here we go,” she said as the door opened and the chauffer took her hand to help her out of the vehicle. She stood gracefully, giving her best illusion of a smile to the media as a cacophony of questions thundered around her.

_“Miss Briefs, is your father not attending?”_

_“Miss Briefs, who is watching your son right now?”_

_“Miss Briefs, any comment on the recent tabloid about the struggles about being a single mother?”_

_“Miss Briefs what designer are you wearing?”_

As soon as the questions had started, there was a pause and almost a collective gasp as Vegeta exited the vehicle and followed behind her. After the pause there was an immediate buzzing amongst the cameramen and reporters. Flashbulbs busted at an even faster rate trying to capture the mysterious man. Several of the media people even recognized him as the man from the pool photos from years ago. Bulma’s fake smile was replaced with a genuine one seeing Vegeta grimace at all of the cameras, but he managed to not say a single threatening word or break anyone or anything as he made his way by her side.

_“Miss Briefs is this your date?”_

_“Miss Briefs is he the father of your son?”_

Bulma expertly dodged the questions and gave her best smile once again before following the assortment of other nominees that had started entering the building for the event. None of which received nearly any harassment, she noted bitterly.

Vegeta managed to not fold his arms over his chest as he usually did and instead walked by her side as they made their way up the mountainous marble staircase leading into the building. They finally reached the top and entered the tall marble archways of the building surrounded by brick and black metal accents. The event was held in a ballroom adorned with gold chandeliers that had drops of crystals dangling off of them as well as ornate table arrangements coupled with crystal glasses and flower centerpieces. The usher showed them to their table where they were the only ones currently being seated.

“I’m pretty sure every single person in this room is staring at us,” Bulma said as she took a long sip out of a champagne flute that a waiter had brought over to them. All of the surrounding tables of guests were practically turned in their seats to gape at them. Most of the scientists and companies represented were from prestigious and significant companies, but the CEOs in charge were unheard of. Unlike Bulma who made international news regularly, making her stand out quite a bit amongst the crowd. There wasn’t a person here who didn’t know who she was or what Capsule Corp and her father had accomplished in the industry.

“What is this?” Vegeta grumbled after taking a sip from the champagne flute. “This tastes even worse than that poison that you usually drink.”

“It’s champagne, it’s what people drink at celebratory events and things like this. The champagne that you just nearly spat out is one of the most expensive on the planet,” Bulma said in amusement.

“Well it’s a waste of money then,” Vegeta stated in disgust.

Two different couples were eventually seated at their table and whispered quietly to one another before introducing themselves.

“Hello, Miss Briefs. I’m Mycroft Black for Black Inc. and this is my wife Sherry,” a pointed nose man with blonde hair said, the woman next to him with a heavy fake tan smiled so widely, Bulma worried she may break her face.

“I’m Uri March,” the other man sitting at the table said, his beard a shocking white against his tan complexion. “This is my wife Azure,” he said nodding to the woman who looked about thirty years younger than him with bright red hair and appeared to be even more bored than Vegeta.

“This is…” Bulma paused realizing how she didn’t even really know how to refer to Vegeta. Boyfriend sounded silly and not strong enough for what was between them, but obviously they weren’t married and she couldn’t say husband. Partner sounded like they were simply in business with one another. “…My boyfriend, Vegeta,” Bulma finally settled with. The two women at the table lifted their eyebrows dramatically at one another before eying Vegeta, who looked as though he was being tortured rather than attending a high society event.

Vegeta hated that word _boyfriend_ and the fact that he shared the same title that the weakling once held. He stared down the men across from them at the table. The one called Mycroft visibly shuddered and swallowed hard after seeing Vegeta’s threatening gaze, especially when their eyes roamed across Bulma’s chest as she spoke.

“The synthesized metal that your father developed is impressive,” March said. “Word is that he will likely win.”

“Bulma developed it, not her father. Hence why he isn’t here and she is to accept the award when she wins,” Vegeta snapped before Bulma even had the chance to reply. She couldn’t hide her smile as she took another long sip of champagne. If only she had convinced him to come to these events sooner, this was sure to be an entertaining evening to say the least.

Vegeta was beginning to understand what Bulma had meant when she said that men dominated her field of study and that she got a lot of shit for being a woman in science. They didn’t seem to take her seriously one bit and his anger bubbled in his throat. This would be unacceptable on Planet Vegeta, the women on the planet would have revolted and started some sort of war if they had been treated as inferior.

The waiter seemed to appear just in time and the two women ordered more of the expensive champagne, as did Bulma and the men ordered whiskey. Vegeta also ordered whiskey having no idea what it was but if those fools could drink it, so could he. As the evening progressed, the two couples kept to themselves mostly throughout dinner, seemingly quite intimidated by Vegeta. The wives openly gawked at him, though Vegeta hadn’t noticed one bit and instead was far more concerned with eating several plates of filet mignon and prime rib as well as downing whiskey, which he decided, “wasn’t terrible.” The other guests at the table stared in awe at how much food and alcohol Vegeta consumed.

A flashbulb busted as more pictures were taken of the two trying to enjoy their meal. Vegeta growled while chewing his steak, flexing his arms uncomfortably in the tight navy jacket. Had they no decency that they felt the need to interrupt his meal, which so far had been the only positive thing about this whole ordeal. 

“They’re allowed to take pictures during the event, it’s encouraged in fact so you can’t break any of their necks,” Bulma murmured quietly, hoping the others seated at the table didn’t hear her as she flashed them a fake smile. The wives seemed to be thrilled to be caught in so many photo opportunities because of Bulma and Vegeta and hadn’t even noticed what she had said.

Bulma knew that the ceremony would start soon since dinner was coming to a close, so she took the opportunity to run to the bathroom quickly to check her hair and make-up. Vegeta was still preoccupied with the gloriousness that was prime-rib so she knew it would be okay to leave him on his own. After fixing her lipstick and patting her hair back into place, Bulma left the ladies room and began making her way back to her seat. On her way over to the table, the CEO from a competing company intercepted her. Bulma visibly tensed knowing full well how much of a creep this guy was and she was in no mood to speak to him.

“Ah, Bulma, I see your father isn’t with you tonight,” his voice slithered as he stood far too close to her. He was a slimy looking man, not much older than Bulma with slicked back brown hair, a hooked nose and gray eyes. He had said a couple of creepy off-handed comments to her in the past and had certainly stared at her in a way that made her want to shower in bleach more often than not. Sometimes he even got handsy in a Master Roshi sort of way.

“Yes, _Jack,_ I am representing the company tonight because _I_ developed the synthesized material, not my dad,” Bulma replied in her crisp and clear business-like tone making sure to use his first name because he had used hers. He was one of the leading scientists who notoriously undermined her intelligence and capability, and she was not having it today.

“Interesting,” he said, bringing his hand to rest on her back as he was leading her back to her table.

Bulma immediately moved his hand from her lower back shooing it away. “Jack, if you touch me again, I will break your fingers,” Bulma said as sweetly and politely as possible while flashing a smile at the people sitting at their tables who didn’t hear a word she said and only the happy tone of her voice.

“And after she’s broken your fingers, I’ll rip your spine from your body,” Vegeta’s voice crackled quietly and discretely between the two.

Bulma’s smile widened as Vegeta led her away from him, replacing his hand on her lower back where Jack’s had been seconds ago. Jack stood there turning 5 shades paler as Vegeta turned over his shoulder to give him one last menacing stare down before he and Bulma returned to their table.

~*~

Bulma half stumbled as she grabbed onto Vegeta’s arm while they made their way off of the aircraft and towards the entrance to Capsule Corp. She had celebrated after their victory and rewarded herself with a couple of glasses too many of champagne. They made their way through the compound, Bulma half giggling as she still attempted to cling to Vegeta for balance. It was well into the evening and closer to the morning, her parents and Trunks long since asleep after she had called to tell them the news of their win.

Vegeta had taken off the uncomfortable navy jacket and had it hooked over his free hand and slung over his shoulder, his bow tie slightly loosened and crooked. He hadn’t pushed her off of his arm even though the event was over and instead was making fun of how uncoordinated she currently was.

“Why not stop drinking before it impairs your walking?” Vegeta snorted at Bulma who had to stop and take her heels off and hold them in her other hand.

“I didn’t know it was going to impair my walking, I’m having a delayed reaction! Besides, walking in heels is difficult even without drinking,” Bulma said whispering loudly as they made their way through the main entrance. Vegeta half dragged her to the living room outside of the kitchen. The lights of the kitchen were on, creating a contrast with 2 wide bands of light shining into the otherwise darkened living room. Bulma tossed her heels to the ground, happy to finally be rid of them. 

“Is it possible for Saiyans to even get drunk? Wait! Wait. Are you drunk?” Bulma gasped. He had consumed enough whiskey to raise serious concern from the bar tender, but to people who didn’t know Vegeta at all, he appeared completely fine and not drunk at all so it hadn’t been an issue and everyone assumed he just had an absurdly high tolerance for alcohol. But Bulma suddenly realized how uncharacteristically amiable Vegeta had been the last hour or so.

Vegeta shrugged, “Don’t know, never been drunk before. Radditz and Nappa would get inebriated often from strange drinks and liquid capsules from the planet Chorol. I never partook. It’s not smart for a warrior to dull their senses. Clearly made evident by the state you’re currently in,” Vegeta pointed out.

He didn’t feel any different, though his head felt a little bit lighter and he didn’t feel as angry as he usually did. His ability to keep his hands off of Bulma had seemed to disappear as well. Patience had never been something he was good at, but he had managed to not jump on top of her the entire night. But now they were back at Capsule Corp so all bets were off.

Vegeta tossed the suit jacket to the ground and started to slowly and purposefully back Bulma into a wall as though he were cornering his prey.

“I’m not even that drunk! I was waaaay drunker that time in the kitchen years ago before the androids when you stole my ramen. Oh! Speaking of which! We should probably have water and-“ the sentence was lost in the back of Bulma’s throat as she gently collided with the wall hitting her back. The beams of light from the kitchen illuminated Vegeta who was in shadow, showing the ripples of muscles straining against the white button down shirt tucked into the suit pants that were growing tighter as each second passed. Vegeta placed the palms of each hand and pressed them against the wall on either side of her head, keeping a small amount of distance between them. His eyes were locked onto hers in a way that made her knees tremble beneath her.

“Do you ever stop talking?” he murmured bringing his face closer to hers, but still leaving a bit of distance.

“Nope,” Bulma replied feeling the static between them and the hair on the back of her neck standing up right.

“I can think of a few ways to get you to stop,” he said and she felt the keen ache for him within her.

She lifted up her arms and brought her fingers to the bow tie hanging crooked on his neck and unknotted it. She grabbed each end of the fabric and yanked him in to crush her lips against his. He growled against her lips creating a vibration in the back of her throat as their tongues slid against one another. Her hands dropped the bow tie and came to tangle into his hair to deepen the kiss even further. His hands that had been pushed against the wall came down to grab at her waist as he pressed his body against hers into the wall behind her. The string of the diamonds going down her back pressed a chill into her spine.

Bulma’s hands traveled from his hair to his shoulders as she felt his hardened length pressing against her. His hands moved across her body pressing the silk fabric against her skin and dragging his fingers underneath of the fabric pushing her breasts together and trying to figure out the best method to get her out of it. Before he got the chance to consider ripping the dress clear off of her, she pushed her hands against his chest and put some distance between them, breaking their kiss. Bulma hooked her fingers underneath of his suspender straps and grabbed them so that she could pull him in the direction of the couch.

She backed him into the couch and pushed against him slightly indicating that she wanted him to sit down because simply trying to push him wouldn’t exactly work and he would likely end up laughing at her feeble attempt to shove him. As he sat down on the couch Bulma sunk down so that she was balancing on her knees on the living room rug in front of his lap, nearly falling down as she tried to find her balance. She reached up to slide the suspenders off of his shoulders until they fell down at his sides and pushed his legs open so that she could kneel between them. Bulma brought her hands up to fumble with the button and zipper of his pants until she wrapped her hands around the base of his cock and pulled him free from his pants.

Vegeta sat there helplessly mesmerized as she looked him straight in the eye and licked her lips before bringing her mouth down to cover the head of his cock. Her mouth came down as far as she could manage until she brought her hand wrapped around the base of his length to meet her mouth, tightening her grip as her hand moved. His head fell back against the seat of the couch cushion as he whispered, “fuck” through his clenched teeth. His hips bucked up to meet her and his hand fell down to tangle into her blue hair as she brought her mouth down and up, wrapping her tongue around his length in the process.

He realized, as she continued to bob her head up and down and swirl her tongue against him that his self-control was even more limited because of the whiskey that he consumed even if he wasn’t all that inebriated. Fearing that he would hurt her with his control falling through his fingers, he regretfully pulled her off of him, mourning the loss of contact. He stood up before he lifted her up from the ground and placed her onto her back to rest on the couch. Before she had a moment to protest he crawled on top of her and slid the purple silk of the dress up over her legs and waist realizing with a raised eyebrow that she wasn’t wearing any undergarments before he brought his mouth down and slid his tongue against her entrance. He hooked her legs over his shoulders to get a better angle and slid a finger inside of her as his tongue pressed against her clit.

Bulma arched her back against the couch and brought her hips up to meet his mouth, whimpering at the sensation. His tongue continued to make circular motions against her while sliding a second finger inside of her. She brought her hands down to tangle into his hair. With her nerves already on edge and even more sensitive from being drunk, the sensation nearly brought her to scream out loud, before remembering that everyone was asleep and she most definitely didn’t want her parents to walk in on them like this.

His tongue moved faster against her and she bit her lip to stifle the cry leaving her mouth.

“Please,” she whimpered and he stopped his motions, so that he could make eye contact with her from between her legs.

“Please, what?” he asked with a satisfied smirk as she nearly cried at the loss of contact.

“Fuck me,” she said desperately and as the sentence barely left her mouth he already thrust himself inside of her. They both moaned in unison as he pulled himself halfway out before slamming back into her, digging his fist into the fabric of the couch while his other hand hooked around her shoulder for leverage. Her fingers dug into the white shirt that he still wore and clung to the curves of his biceps as his lips found her pulse at the juncture of her neck and shoulder. He bit down marking her there roughly and Bulma tightened her legs that wrapped around his waist as he pounded in and out of her.

He stopped suddenly, climbing off of her and sitting down onto the couch, grabbing her and pulling her onto his lap. Bulma pushed the silk fabric of her dress out of her way so that she could grab his cock and position him inside of her. She slid down his length and brought her hands to rest on the top of the couch. He brought one hand to hold her hips in place to thrust up to meet her and his other hand slid the front of her dress down to expose her breasts. He cupped at her chest, feeling her nipples harden against his touch. As she found a rhythm his hand slid under her dress to press his fingers at her clit. The pressure against her while she shifted her hips back and forth was enough to make her unravel, and he followed closely behind, making an unintelligible sound against her chest.

They stayed like that for a while, as she tried to get her bearings and try not to immediately fall asleep. Eventually she climbed off of his lap, only to collapse on the couch next to him, leaning her head against his side. Vegeta opened his eyes that he hadn’t even realized that he had closed and fixed himself back into his paints. He realized that somehow they managed to half keep their clothes on and he unbuttoned the top buttons of the white shirt to breathe easier.

Bulma sat up suddenly blinking her eyes open. Her hair was in complete disarray around her face and her dress was pulled half down with the fabric all twisted at her waist. “We need water. Well at least I need water, Saiyans probably don’t get hangovers because of your annoying _superior gene_ s or whatever.”

She stood up from the couch attempted to fix herself into her dress and swayed a little bit as she tried to find her balance before making her way into the kitchen. Vegeta followed behind her as she grabbed 2 water bottles from the fridge.

“Oooh my mom got pizza, do you want some leftovers?” Bulma declared in excitement.

“Do you even need to ask that question?” Vegeta said as he sat down at the table.

Bulma turned the oven on and got the pizza ready to go for when it preheated. She collapsed into the chair opposite of Vegeta and downed half of her water bottle in one gulp. Vegeta drank his entire water bottle not realizing he was even thirsty until this moment.

He stared at her disheveled appearance in amusement especially knowing he was the cause of it, though even with her hair messed up and her dress crinkled and out of place, he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. She had caught the eye of everyone at the event tonight too. Including that bastard that had touched her. Vegeta’s mild amusement turned to a burning white hot rage suddenly.

“What’s wrong?” Bulma asked noticing Vegeta’s slight frown, which was pretty much his neutral face, twisted into fury.

“If we were on Planet Vegeta, the man that dared to touch you would be dead right now,” Vegeta said with contempt. “I would have the right to kill him by combat for touching my mate, it was a written law.”

“Well as much as I would have enjoyed witnessing that, it doesn’t work that way on Earth,” Bulma said shaking her head. She was surprised and relieved that Vegeta hadn’t blown up the place when it happened. “Besides, I am not seen as ‘your mate’ because we are not legally bound together or married on Earth. Though I doubt that would stop guys like Jack from being complete fucking creeps anyhow, but it may deter others,” Bulma said making a face thinking of that bastard.

Vegeta seemed to consider this for a moment. It had been nearly a year since they agreed to try and he had agreed to stay. Though the fact that he had agreed to stay in the first place meant he was serious about his commitment and that in his eyes, she was already his mate. In their argument the other night she had brought up that she didn’t know what else she could do to prove that she wanted to be with him and that she took this as seriously as he did. Perhaps she was right. Seeing that asshole put his hand on her, made Vegeta nearly spiral out of control and the only real reason he hadn’t exploded was for her sake. Also, the paparazzi did not believe that Trunks had a father because what was between them was not publicly official or legal for Earth.

“How do we complete this marriage process then?” Vegeta asked unsure of what the process entailed. Though he was sure it would likely be annoying and over the top like every other Earth thing he had to suffer through thus far. Kakarot had gone through with it for his mate so it couldn’t have been too bad for him to endure without complaint.

Bulma nearly laughed out loud and thought that she may have temporarily hallucinated or fallen asleep. It almost sounded like Vegeta brought up the idea of marriage. She was still feeling the effects of the champagne. That coupled with an earth shattering orgasm had made her officially lose it. That had to be it.

Vegeta stared at her wondering why she wasn’t answering his question.

“What?” she said.

“This marriage thing that you speak of. What do we have to do to make it legally official?” Vegeta repeated unsure what was unclear about his first statement.

Bulma gaped at him.

“Vegeta, just to be clear because I drank a lot of champagne tonight and I think I may have temporarily gone insane, but are you saying that you want to get married?” Bulma asked in bewilderment as she clutched her half empty bottle of water.

“For someone who just won an award for intelligence do you need me to spell this out for you?” Vegeta said in irritation. “Yes that is what I am saying. What is the big deal?”

Bulma’s eyes widened and her jaw dropped to the ground, especially when she realized this was not a dream. Vegeta was asking Bulma how to get married.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope ya'll enjoyed this extra long chapter as well as the visual of Vegeta in a suit with suspenders O_O I like to imagine Vegeta as Belle in the library from Beauty and the Beast when he sees his brand new gravity room XD If you enjoyed the chapter, please take a moment to leave a comment or a kudos, it really does mean so much to me to hear feedback! What's next for our favorite couple? Does this mean that they are engaged? Is a wedding on the horizon? Stay tuned to find out more!
> 
> xx  
> Mawr Blaidd Drwg


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